Abstract

This study compared the differences in mental models of Autonomous Vehicles(AVs), which have recently received attention, by dividing them into ordinary people and occupational drivers. In Study 1, 16 psychological concepts(nodes) for car driving and AVs were extracted by interviewing ordinary people and occupational drivers. The connection relationship between the psychological concepts extracted for car driving in Study 2 and AVs in Study 3 was identified, and the differences in mental models between the two groups were compared. The relationship between concepts was analyzed through social network analysis. As a result of the study, there was a difference in the perceptions of car driving and AVs between ordinary people and occupational drivers. With respect to car driving, ordinary people recognized a direct relation with positive words such as relaxation, travel, family, and comfort, whereas occupational drivers recognized direct relation with occupations such as livelihood, accident, occupation, and labor. For AVs, ordinary people recognized a direct relation with only positive words such as freedom, leisure, and development, whereas professional drivers recognized not only positive words such as happiness, joy, and leisure but also nagative words such as anxiety, job loss, risk, crisis. This results show that ordinary people have more positive expectations for the changes that AVs will bring than occupational drivers. Whereas it can be said that occupational drivers have a more conservative attitude than ordinary people in accepting AVs, and show anxiety about job loss that AVs will bring. Based on the above results, the implications and limitations were discussed.