A simple procedure for the assessment of acceptance of advanced transport telematics

There is no standard way of measuring driver acceptance of new technology. A review of the literature shows that there are almost as many methods of assessment of acceptance as there are acceptance studies. The tool for studying acceptance of new technological equipment that is presented here has a major advantage compared with many other studies in that esoteric knowledge of scaling techniques is not required. The technique is simple and consists of nine 5-point rating-scale items. These items load on two scales, a scale denoting the usefulness of the system, and a scale designating satisfaction. The technique has been applied in six different studies in different test environments and analyses performed over these studies show that it is a reliable instrument for the assessment of acceptance of new technology. The technique was sensitive to differences in opinion to specific aspects of in-vehicle systems, as well as to differences in opinion between driver groups. In a concluding section explicit recommendations for use of the scale are given. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.