Seeing the forest or the tree: A cross-country comparison of blame and trust in autonomous vehicles after accidents

Zhang, Qiyuan, Marcinkiewicz, Victoria, Asada, Minoru, Inatani, Tatsuhiko, Ueda, Yoshiyuki, Katsuno, Hirofumi, Wallbridge, Christopher D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9468-122X, Jones, Dylan M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-5542 and Morgan, Phillip L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5672-0758 2026. Seeing the forest or the tree: A cross-country comparison of blame and trust in autonomous vehicles after accidents. Technology in Society , 103608. 10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103608

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Abstract

Understanding cultural factors in public responses to autonomous vehicle (AV) incidents, including collisions and near-misses, is critical for the broader adoption of this technology, yet systematic cross-country comparisons are limited in the existing empirical literature. This paper presents three experiments in which judgments of blame and trust were collected from participants in the UK and Japan after viewing text and image-based vignettes (Experiment 1a and 1b) or watching video clips of driving scenarios (Experiment 2) featuring AVs or human drivers performing manoeuvres in traffic environments that ultimately led to collisions or near-misses. The findings reveal broadly similar baseline attitudes toward AVs but notable discrepancies between the two countries in post-incident judgments of blame: participants in Japan distributed blame more evenly across involved parties and scenarios, whereas greater variability in blame judgments was observed among UK participants. Indicative evidence was obtained that blame ratings in the UK were more affected by the perceived capability of AVs versus human drivers in a specific context compared to Japan. Possible causes for these discrepancies are discussed within the framework of cultural values and cognitive attributional styles. The findings lay empirical, methodological and theoretical foundations for future cross-cultural studies with implications for policymaking, legislation and the design of AV technology for multi-agent societies on a global scale.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Computational & Mathematical Sciences Schools > Computer Science & Informatics Schools > Psychology
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0160-791X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 November 2026
Date of Acceptance:	2 November 2026
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2026 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190878

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