The Personal Autonomous Car: Personality and the Driverless Car

Road traffic accidents, congestion and their ensuing issues are of international concern. A recent technological development to alleviate this situation is the autonomic car. A driverless vehicle will transport its passengers to their destinations. User experience would be enhanced by adapting the workings of the vehicle in line with the personality of its user. An autonomic car information system preference questionnaire was designed, focusing on different components of a futuristic information system. Participants comprised 155 students. The results demonstrated two factors: willingness to share information and need for control. A regression analysis on the automatic car preferences, personality (the Big 5), gender, and age showed that openness, consciousnesses, and age were related to different preferences. The results are assessed, followed by a discussion on personality in relation to the autonomic car.