# Public Perception of the Introduction of Autonomous Vehicles
## 4 Discussion
### Quantitative Data Analysis
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Parameter Estimates** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**95\% Confidence Interval**} & **Brant Test** \\ \hline Main Effects & & Lower Bound & Upper Bound & Probability \\ \hline Gender = 1 & \(-\)1.4384 (0.6226) ** & 0.06419989 & 0.7619351 & 0.19 \\
[Male] & 0.2373 & & & \\ \hline Age = 1 & 0.5350 (0.4709) & & & \\
[Above 35] & 1.7075 & & & \\ \hline Edu = 1 & 0.6460 (0.4949) & & & \\
[Postgraduate] & 1.9080 & & & \\ \hline Stakeholder = 1 & \(-\)0.3474 (0.6309) & & & \\
[industry] & 0.7065 & & & \\ \hline Stakeholder = 2 & 0.8373 (0.5035) * & & & \\
[Public] & 2.3100 & & & \\ \hline Manage\_role & 0.1524 (0.1357) & & & \\
1.1646 & 0.89311975 & & 1.5241228 & 0.87 \\ \hline Prior\_knowledge = 1 & 1.1013 (0.4698) ** & & & \\
[seen] & 3.0081 & & & \\ \hline Intercepts & & & & \\ \hline Low benefits \(|\) Average benefits & \(-\)2.2068 (0.7116) *** & & & \\ \hline Average benefits \(|\) High benefits & \(-\)0.2285 (0.6728) & & & \\ \hline Model Fit & & & & \\ \hline Residual Deviance & 194.3664 & & & \\ \hline AIC & 212.3664 & & & \\ \hline Pr(Chi) & \(<\) 0.001 & & & \\ \hline Omnibus & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note: Standard errors are in parentheses; values below coefficients and standard errors are odds ratio values \(\exp(\beta)\).* represents \(p<0.10\), ** represents \(p<0.05\), and *** represents \(p<0.01\).  
\end{table} 
Table 7: Results of OLR slope coefficients using perceived benefits as dependent variables. The results show that three out of six independent variables have statistically significant relationships with the dependent variable. The variable gender appears to be the most influential factor (1.4384), where men tended to score lower on the dependent variable, with an odds ratio of 0.2373. In other words, for men in Saudi Arabia, the odds of being more likely (i.e., high or average benefits versus low benefits) to have positive expectations for the transition to higher utilization of AVs are 76.27% [i.e., \((1-0.2373)\times 100\%\)]. This is lower than that for women, given that the other variables in the model are held constant. Results differ from other studies, which indicate that men are more likely to have positive attitudes towards AVs [23; 24; 25; 26]. However, our results substantiate other studies, which find Saudi women are more likely to have positive attitudes towards AVs than Saudi men (see, for example, [31]). We conclude that this might be due to a higher inclination toward safety and the environment, but a more thorough examination is necessary. The second most influential factor on people's opinions is their prior knowledge about AVs (1.1013), where people who have seen AVs before tended to score higher on the dependent variable with an odds ratio of 3.0081. The results showed that a total of 92.60% of participants in this survey had previously heard about or seen AVs, but these people were more likely to be in the middle age range (26-35) and have a higher degree of education. This represents a significant improvement over earlier research, which revealed that just 66% of participants in 2014 [28], 87% in 2016 [36], and 91% in 2020 [30] had previously heard about AVs. However, this result ties well with previous studies [25], wherein participants who had previously heard of autonomous or self-driving vehicles were more likely to expect a high level of benefits to be associated with the transition toward increased use of AVs. Consumer preferences of electric and automated vehicles are presented in [37]. Our results go beyond previous reports, showing that participants who had seen AVs before tended to be 3.01 times more likely to have positive expectations for the transition toward increased use of AVs than the people who had only heard or had never heard about AVs, holding all other variables constant. Therefore, increasing coverage of AVs in the Arab visual media will lead to higher public awareness of AVs.