  This paper investigates the end-user acceptance of last-mile delivery carried
out by autonomous vehicles within the United States. A total of 296
participants were presented with information on this technology and then asked
to complete a questionnaire on their perceptions to gauge their behavioral
intention concerning acceptance. Structural equation modeling of the partial
least squares flavor (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the collected data. The
results indicated that the perceived usefulness of the technology played the
greatest role in end-user acceptance decisions, followed by the influence of
others, and then the enjoyment received by interacting with the technology.
Furthermore, the perception of risk associated with using autonomous delivery
vehicles for last-mile delivery led to a decrease in acceptance. However, most
participants did not perceive the use of this technology to be risky. The paper
concludes by summarizing the implications our findings have on the respective
stakeholders and proposing the next steps in this area of research.
