The automotive industry is in the early stages of a potentially transformative evolution where todays personally owned, driver-driven vehicles likely will travel alongside shared and self-driving cars.

The speed with which this future vision arrives hinges on both technological and regulatory advances and on how quickly consumer expectations and behavior shift. Because even if the benefits of a world of shared self-driving cars seem self-evident, companies should not assume consumers will reach a similar conclusion.

In fact, peoples cognitive biases suggest many individuals may be reluctant to relinquish their personally owned and driver-driven vehicles.

Human behavior often can lead us to delay or forgo adopting new technology (in this case, shared and autonomous vehicles), even if that technology provides demonstrable benefits. While research in behavioral economics and social psychology has revealed deep and consistent biases that can lead to suboptimal choices, it also has uncovered potential ways to overcome these mental limitations.

By constructing choices and framing new mobility options in ways that encourage adoption, companies, governments, nonprofits and others can help ensure the future of mobility arrives sooner rather than later.

For decades, researchers have documented the ways in which human decision-making departs from classic assumptions of rational, cost-benefit calculation. Some salient biases that could lead customers to balk at adopting such technological and service innovations are shown below.

The significant investments being made in the future of mobility could be undermined without a careful and thorough consideration of how consumers might perceive and adopt these new technologies and services. Here are a handful of lessons from behavioral economics that can be used to nudge consumers and help overcome cognitive barriers to adoption:

Shared mobility and autonomous vehicles offer many potential benefits, and while important developments emerge nearly daily, the future of mobility still lies ahead of us. How quickly that future emerges is likely to depend not only on the merits of emerging technological solutions, but also on how well key players understand and address consumers cognitive biases.

Derek Pankratz is a research manager with the Center for Integrated Research in Deloitte Services. His research focuses on the confluence of emerging technological and social trends across industries.

Excerpt from:
Using Behavioral Economics to Accelerate Autonomous Future - Ward's Auto