Challenging the Status Quo : car ownership and the Generation Y : an analysis of the German Market

Purpose – This work aims to identify how people of the Generation Y in Germany see the future of mobility with a special focus on car ownership. Furthermore, determinants influencing car ownership are analyzed and implications for the automotive industry are drawn. Design/Methodology – The research relies on primary data collected through an online survey among 20 – 27 years old people in Germany. In order to draw valid conclusions, the data was analyzed carrying out logistic regressions. Findings – Two main factors that influence the likelihood if people own a car were identified. Living in rural areas and being employed are positively associated with car possession, while no significant relationship between environmental attitude and car ownership could be identified. Research limitations – The older part of the Generation Y, those above 27 years, was not covered by the data, therefore no general conclusions on the behavior of the whole generation and international differences can be drawn. Practical implications – This research can help corporations in the automotive and mobility industries to further understand and differentiate their target segment. People of the Generation Y cannot be seen as one homogenous group but need to be identified as fragmented subgroups with entirely different needs and desires. Originality – To the knowledge of the author, this is the first study that combines the topics of Generation Y and sharing economy with the trends in the automotive industry to identify peoples’ perception of mobility.Proposta – O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar como a geração Y alemã vê o futuro da mobilidade com especial atenção na compra de automóveis. Além disso, os fatores que influenciam a compra de carro privado são analisados assim como o impacto que causam na indústria automóvel. Metodologia – A pesquisa é baseada em dados primários que foram recolhidos através de um questionário online. A população alvo são alemães entre os 20-27 anos. Com o objetivo de obter conclusões válidas, a data foi analisada através de regressões logísticas. Resultados – Os dois fatores que influenciam a probabilidade de as pessoas comprarem carro privado foram identificadas. Viver em áreas rurais e ter um emprego estão associadas positivamente à posse de carro, no entanto não existe uma relação significativa entre atitude ambiental e ter carro. Limitações de Pesquisa – A parte mais velha da geração Y, ou seja, acima dos 27 não foi usada para a data, o que significa que não é possível tirar conclusões gerais no comportamento completo da geração Y e pode haver diferenças internacionais. Implicações práticas – Esta pesquisa pode ajudar empresas na indústria automóvel e de mobilidade a perceberem melhor e diferenciar o seu segmento objetivo. A população da geração Y não pode ser vista como um grupo homogéneo, tem que ser identificado como um grupo fragmentado com diferentes necessidades e objetivos. Originalidade – Para conhecimento do autor, esta pesquisa é o primeiro estudo que combina tópicos sobre a geração Y e economia da partilha com as tendências da indústria automóvel para identificar a perceção que as pessoas tem sobre mobilidade

Behavioral acceptance of automated vehicles: The roles of perceived safety concern and current travel behavior

With the prospect of next-generation automated mobility ecosystem, the realization of the contended traffic efficiency and safety benefits are contingent upon the demand landscape for automated vehicles (AVs). Focusing on the public acceptance behavior of AVs, this empirical study addresses two gaps in the plethora of travel behavior research on identifying the potential determinants thereof. First, a clear behavioral understanding is lacking as to the perceived concern about AV safety and the consequent effect on AV acceptance behavior. Second, how people appraise the benefits of enhanced automated mobility to meet their current (pre-AV era) travel behavior and needs, along with the resulting impacts on AV acceptance and perceived safety concern, remain equivocal. To fill these gaps, a recursive trivariate econometric model with ordinal-continuous outcomes is employed, which jointly estimates AV acceptance (ordinal), perceived AV safety concern (ordinal), and current annual vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) approximating the current travel behavior (continuous). Importantly, the co-estimation of the three endogenous outcomes allows to capture the true interdependencies among them, net of any correlated unobserved factors that can have common impacts on these outcomes. Besides the classical socio-economic characteristics, the outcome variables are further explained by the latent preferences for vehicle attributes (including vehicle cost, reliability, performance, and refueling) and for existing shared mobility systems. The model estimation results on a stated preference survey in the State of California provide insights into proactive policies that can popularize AVs through gearing towards the most affected population groups, particularly vehicle cost-conscious, safety-concerned, and lower-VMT (e.g., travel-restrictive) individuals