Trust towards autonomous driving, worthwhile travel time, and new mobility business opportunities

When driving autonomous cars, individuals have the opportunity to engage in non-driving activities, resulting in improved well-being. By incorporating trust into the technology acceptance modelling framework, this study extends the understanding of behavioural intention from the adoption of autonomous cars to the allocation of worthwhile travel time. Within this extended framework, the structural equation model is employed to identify significant paths to time allocation behaviour. Specifically, trust is identified as a crucial determinant of such behavioural intention. Then, we use the hierarchical ordered probit model to analyse the extent of such time allocation, accounting for scaling heterogeneity in self-reported responses. Our empirical evidence demonstrates the vital role of trust in encouraging the allocation of worthwhile and productive travel time. Based on these results, we present various new mobility business opportunities as well as some policy implications from the perspective of trust.