Media’ s Embrace of Technology: How Media Portrays the Use of Autonomous Taxis and Its Impact on Individuals’ Adoption Intentions

Background

Technological breakthroughs are fundamentally redefining mobility infrastructures (Duggal et al., 2021), with autonomous vehicle systems emerging as a key innovation in this transformation. A notable example is the deployment of Baidu’s “Robotaxi” service in Wuhan, China, in 2024 (PR Newswire, 2024). By eliminating human operational costs, these autonomous taxis offer fares as low as 4 yuan—nearly 80% cheaper than conventional taxis (18 yuan)—driving swift public adoption (CNN Business, 2024). At the same time, their expansion raises critical concerns for individuals (Moody et al., 2020), such as safety concerns about reliability. This landscape underscores the urgency of empirically investigating how individuals process such innovations—balancing perceived risks against touted efficiencies—and how media amplify or mitigate adoption intent.

Therefore, this study aims to analyze how individuals evaluate this technology and how their perceptions shape their adoption intentions. Crucially, we also examine how media exposure influences public perceptions and decision-making regarding autonomous taxis. This research has the potential to contribute theoretically by developing a framework for individuals to assess the technology and its effects on adoption intentions. Practically, it will offer guidelines for policymakers to further promote the adoption of this new technology.

Theory building and potential theoretical contribution

In conceptualizing human processing of new technology and its ultimate influence on acceptance and adoption, technology-dominant perceptions and evaluations are generally emphasized, focusing heavily on individuals’ perceptions of using the technology. Among these frameworks, the most frequently adopted is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM, developed by Davis (1989), is an intention-based framework proposed to explain user acceptance of certain technologies. It identifies perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness as the two key factors influencing adoption intention. Perceived ease of use describes how much a user anticipates that using the technology will require minimal effort, whereas perceived usefulness reflects a user’s belief that utilizing a particular technology will enhance performance (Davis, 1989).

Overall, both predictors highlight individuals’ perceptions of using the technology, especially its positive aspects, while neglecting potential negative impacts. However, when it comes to novel technologies, individuals’ perceptions should not be limited to just one side; the negative impacts hold equal significance. The theory concerning the positive and negative valence in human processing is well established in psychology. It posits that any new situation requiring a judgment involves assessing both positive and negative aspects (Fazio et al., 2015). Individuals must evaluate how much the current situation resembles past experiences that were either positive or negative (Rocklage et al., 2017).

Our study

Therefore, we extend the traditional TAM, which primarily emphasizes a technology-focused positive evaluation in technology adoption, by introducing a dual evaluative framework that incorporates personal risk assessment (Figure 1). With this innovative framework, our study will investigate its effectiveness in influencing individuals’ technology adoption intentions, as well as its role in explaining media effects on those intentions.

We propose the following research questions and hypotheses:

RQ1: How do media portray the issue of autonomous taxis?

RQ1.1: What are the main topics covered in this media coverage?

RQ1.2: What is the sentiment of this media coverage—positive or negative?

H1: Media exposure to autonomous taxis is associated with individuals’ intention to adopt autonomous taxis.

Positive valence (TAM):

H2: a) Perceived usefulness and b) perceived ease of use mediate the relationship between media exposure to autonomous taxis and individuals’ adoption intention.

Negative valence (risks):

H3: a) Affective risk perception and b) cognitive risk perception mediate the relationship between media exposure to autonomous taxis and individuals’ adoption intention.

Materials and Method

To address the research questions and test the hypotheses, we conduct two studies: analysis of a large sample of news reports and a representative survey.

Study 1

We utilized the Wiser database for Chinese news content (http://wisenews.wisers.net.cn/) to gather articles about autonomous taxis. The Wiser database is a comprehensive and continually expanding resource for Chinese media content, boasting over one million entries (Liu et al., 2022). To gain a general understanding of the topic of autonomous taxis, we retrieved articles (N = 22,380) dated between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, during which “Robotaxi” was widely discussed in Wuhan, leading to heated conversations on the subject.

We first employed LDA to conduct a deeper analysis of these news articles. An LDA topic model is structured as a three-level hierarchical Bayesian model, based on the premise that words can be associated with multiple topics (Blei et al., 2003). Second, we performed a sentiment analysis to examine the overall sentiment expressed in these news reports about autonomous taxis.

Study 2

A survey was conducted in Wuhan, China from September to October 2024. Respondents were recruited by Rakuten Insight, an online survey agency, which manages more than 3.2 million panelists in China. We adopted a combination of Probabilities Proportional to Size (PPS) sampling and quota sampling with gender and age based on the population census. Participants were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire using the Qualtrics platform. A total of 1,163 valid responses were collected.

Major findings

The analysis of news articles highlighted the major themes about autonomous taxis, such as new experiences, efficiency, and price, and indicated an overall positive sentiment toward embracing this new technology. Survey data revealed that media exposure to autonomous taxis positively influenced individuals’ intention to adopt them. The positive valence, including perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, functioned as positive mediators, suggesting that media exposure fostered positive perceptions of the technology, thereby enhancing adoption intentions. Conversely, the effects of the negative attributes were different. Media exposure negatively influenced individuals’ risk concerns about the technology, which could impede their intention to adopt it. 

Our findings suggest that human decisions regarding the adoption of new technology are influenced by a dual evaluative framework that includes both objective technological benefits and subjective risk perceptions. While individuals assess a technology’s functional attributes rationally, they also engage in personal risk assessment. This crucial aspect of personal risk evaluation is often underrepresented in media reports. The media embraces this new technology with minimal emphasis on its associated risks.