Regional differences in public perceptions of autonomous vehicles facing moral dilemmas: a comparative study between the United States, Hong Kong, and China

In an online experiment, 1,500 adult residents from the United States, Hong Kong, and China were exposed to four variations of a dilemma that required a driver in an autonomous vehicle or the vehicle itself to make a passenger-protective (i.e., protecting the vehicle passenger by sacrificing a pedestrian) or a pedestrian-protective (i.e., protecting a pedestrian by sacrificing the vehicle passenger) moral decision. The results indicated that the types of moral dilemmas and moral decision-makers had no significant effects on ethical judgment and attitudes toward autonomous vehicles as well as purchase intentions, perceived intelligence, and safety. However, regional differences played a key role in influencing these measured variables. Additionally, the varying levels of collectivism in the three regions emerged as a potential underlying mechanism to explain the regional differences.