Acceptance of Self-Driving Cars: Does Their Posthuman Ability Make Them More Eerie or More Desirable?

The arrival of self-driving cars and smart technologies is fraught with controversy, as users hesitate to cede control to machines for vital tasks. While advances in engineering have made such autonomous technology a reality, considerable design work is needed to motivate their mass adoption. What are the key predictors of people's acceptance of self-driving cars? Is it the ease of use or coolness aspect? Is it the degree of perceived controlfor users? We decided to find out with a survey (N = 404) assessing acceptance of self-driving cars, and discovered that the strongest predictor is " posthumanability," suggesting that individuals are much more accepting of technology that can clearly outclass human abilities.