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The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ understanding of autonomous driving by comparing perceptions of occasional drivers (ODs) and frequent drivers (FDs).

Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 41 drivers. Their responses were categorized into thematic categories or topics on the basis of content analysis, and the topics were structured based on the core-periphery model. Finally, the authors visualized the structure on a perceptual map by adopting a maximum tree approach.

Respondents’ understanding of autonomous driving were categorized into 10 topics. There were significant differences in topics and their relationships between ODs and FDs. Findings also show that FD can better detect hazardousness from autonomous driving environments than ODs.

Differently from prior studies’ focus on its technological aspect and some derived benefits, the study examines it from the viewpoint of consumers, who are critical participants in the dissemination of autonomous driving.

The findings suggest that rather than focusing on developing the highest level of autonomous cars, developing in an evolutionary way by adding automated functions to existing cars can be the better strategy to dominate the autonomous vehicle market.

This study is a pioneering work in that it can be an initial empirical work on autonomous driving from the customer standpoint.