Does length of ride, gender, or nationality affect willingness to ride in a driverless ambulance?

Abstract

Due to the frequent lack of ambulances and personnel, the purpose of this study was to examine consumers' willingness-to-ride in an ambulance that was either driven by a human driver or completely automated (with no human driver) based on the gender of the participant and their nationality, either Indian or American. A two-study experimental design was utilized using over 1,000 participants. In Study 1, the length of the ride and the type of driver were manipulated while in Study 2, the length of the ride was manipulated across genders and nationality. Study 2 also collected affect measures to complete a mediation analysis. The findings indicate that consumers' willingness-to-ride was significantly lower for longer rides when using the automated ambulance. There were significant interactions between nationality and gender and nationality, gender, and length of the ride. Affect was found to significantly mediate the relationship between willingness-to-ride and both nationality and gender. These findings are discussed in greater detail, along with recommendations for future research and limitations to the study.