Introduction. Over the last few years, autonomous shuttles (AS) have emerged as a promising form of eco-friendly transportation, offering a variety of environmental benefits. Their integration into urban environments is increasingly being explored and recent meta-analyses and reviews tend to support the diversification of explanatory variables, including psychological factors. While evidence suggests that values - according to Schwartz's model - shape human behavior in several domains, their inclusion is virtually missing within the field of autonomous shuttles' acceptance.
Purpose. We hypothesized that universalism - one's involvement in protecting human kind as well as natural environment and its beauty - would show out as the best predictor of attitudes, but also intentions and behavioral interest in AS.
Method. Almost 200 undergraduate students filled a series of questionnaires including Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-10 in Study 1, n = 100; PVQ-RR in Study 2, n = 97), and met, as if by chance, a real AS in a controlled environment. Within real-life settings, adult and older adult participants who had just experienced an AS (Study 3, n = 50), completed an alternative measure of PVQ, the Portrait Values Dictionnary.
Results. Only the nuanced PVQ-RR value of universalism-nature - but not universalism-concern nor universalism-tolerance - confirmed our hypothesis and predicted the participants' behavior. Stimulation, a value characterized by excitement and challenge-seeking, predicted their behavior on its own. These results were replicated with the alternative value measure, where universalism and stimulation emerged as the main predictors of the participants' intentions to re-use an AS.
Conclusions. This suggest that the acceptance of AS is not only a matter of technological performance but also of motivational orientations. Communication stategies should highlight the novelty, excitement and environmental potential of AS - based on openness-to-change and self-transcendence values - to promote public engagement and support their integration into urban mobility.