Average U.S. customers are willing to spend almost $5,000 more for a fully-autonomous vehicle, says a recently published report.
In the study, researchers from Cornell University discovered that U.S. households would accept paying a premium of $4,900 for fully self-driving vehicles and $3,500 for some level of automation.
Dubbed Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, the paper also found that a large proportion of the sample group were willing to spend above $10,000 for full automation whereas many others said they wouldn’t pay any premium.
The study received responses from 1,260 individuals with median household incomes around $55,000-$60,000. A previous study from 2015 of 5,000 respondents from 109 countries reported that 22 per cent of people didn’t want to pay an additional price for full automation while 5 per cent suggested they’d be willing to pay over $30,000 for the technology.
In a statement, the lead author of the study, Ricardo Daziano said “Automation of personal transportation is becoming a reality at a faster pace than anticipated. To plan for and analyze the large impacts of automation, policymakers and car manufacturers need to understand the market. Our study is an initial attempt to quantify how households currently perceive and economically value automated vehicle technologies.”
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