**Figure 3.**

*Parent rating of driving performance for teenagers.*

**Figure 4.** *Number of accidents teenagers have caused.*

(20.94%, n = 40) that it was helpful to them. Parents were also asked if their child has their own personal vehicle (28.27%, n = 54), shares with siblings (5.24%, n = 10), or uses a vehicle that would otherwise be used by a parent (51.83%, n = 99); 11.52% (n = 22) of the sample indicated that their teenager typically used other vehicles outside of the immediate family when driving.

Finally, participants were asked if they would prefer for their child to wait to learn to drive until they are older if they could use an AV to retain the same level of mobility: 31.94% (n = 61) of parents said "yes," 50.26% (n = 96) said "no," and 17.28% (n = 33) were unsure (**Figure 5**).

#### **3.3 Early adoption and autonomous vehicle opinions**

Participants were asked a number of questions regarding their familiarity with AV as well as if they considered themselves to be early adopters. All responses fell on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from positive to negative, in relation to the nature

**Figure 5.** *Participant responses to delayed licensing.*

of the question. When asked about usefulness, 80% of participants responded with "somewhat useful" (n = 114) or "extremely useful" (n = 40). Respondents also largely felt that AVs were safe, with 89 saying "somewhat safe" and 23 saying "extremely safe." When asked how familiar they were with AVs, a large number of participants reported being at least moderately familiar with the technology as seen in **Figure 6** (n = 88).

Participants were then asked if they themselves would likely be riding in an AV. The responses were diverse: 40 participants felt that they were extremely likely to be users, while 72 felt that it was somewhat likely; 22 chose the neutral category of neither likely nor unlikely and 38 felt that it would be somewhat unlikely. Only 18 individuals felt that it would be extremely unlikely for them to make use of an AV. Lastly, respondents were asked if they would be likely to purchase an AV if cost were no object. The results were the least varied of all the questions, with 52 "extremely likely," 53 "somewhat likely," 24 neutral responses, 33 "somewhat unlikely" and 29 "extremely unlikely" responses.

**Figure 6.** *Perceived familiarity with AV.*

*Parent Opinions of Automated Vehicles and Young Driver Mobility DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105531*

In addition to these AV related questions, participants were asked if they would consider themselves to be an early adopter of technology. As seen in **Figure 7**, 95 individuals responded with "probably yes" and 23 with "definitely yes," resulting in 61.78% of participants identifying with the concept of an early adopter of technology.

### **3.4 Comparison of parent willingness**

A chi-square test showed significant differences in frequency distributions across participants self-reported early adopter status and their willingness to transport their licensed teenager in an AV (χ2 (16, *N* = 190) = 31.97, *p* = 0.010).

As seen in **Table 1**, a large number of parents who were unsure of their early adopter status ("might or might not") were also fairly neutral on their willingness with 40% of this group selecting "neither comfortable nor uncomfortable" with transporting their teen this way. Interestingly, of the respondents who rated themselves as probably being early adopters ("probably yes") there was quite a large divide between those who reported being "somewhat comfortable" (n = 32) with the idea and those who reported "somewhat uncomfortable" (n = 25). Overall, those who identified more with being an early adopter were more likely to feel comfortable with AV transportation.

Additionally, the perceived safety of AVs and parent willingness to use them for licensed teens were not equally distributed (χ2 (16, *N* = 190) = 156.94, *p* < 0.001). **Table 2** shows that participants who felt that AV is "extremely safe" felt "extremely comfortable" or "somewhat comfortable" with using the AVs except for one participant. Those who felt that AV was "somewhat safe" also had high rates of willingness with 52 participants feeling "somewhat comfortable" or "extremely comfortable." In line with this, those who fell into the unsafe categories showed a tendency to be more uncomfortable with the idea of using this technology for their teenager's transportation needs.

Lastly, parent willingness was compared to parent's desire for their teen to wait to learn to drive if they could mitigate their mobility with an AV. There were significant group differences (χ2 (8, *N* = 190) = 18.93, *p* = 0.015), with most parents

 *Frequencies and Chi-Square result for early adopter status & parent willingness with licensed child (N = 190).*

**Table 1.**

**Table 2.**

*Frequencies and Chi-Square result for perceived safety & parent willingness with licensed child (N = 190).*