Australians’ perceptions of the potential effects of increased access to alcohol via autonomous delivery services: A multi-method study

• Published in: Addictive behaviors Vol. 148; p. 107872
• Main Authors: Pettigrew, Simone, Booth, Leon, Farrar, Victoria, Brown, Julie, Godic, Branislava, Vidanaarachchi, Rajith, Karl, Charles, Thompson, Jason
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Australia; Autonomous vehicles; Costs and Cost Analysis; Home delivery; Humans; Policy; Regulation; Surveys and Questionnaires; Australia; Home delivery; Alcohol; Regulation; Autonomous vehicles
• ISSN: 0306-4603; 1873-6327
• DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107872

•Technological developments will enhance the availability of alcohol.•An important commercial application of autonomous vehicles is product deliveries.•Alcohol availability is a key determinant of the nature and extent of alcohol harms.•Australians appear interested in accessing alcohol via autonomous deliveries.•Pre-emptive approaches to minimizing associated harms are needed. Rapid technological change will affect how people access harmful products. For example, automated delivery services are forecast to provide fast and affordable product access options for those purchasing alcohol. Information about the potential impacts of such innovations on alcohol purchase and consumption behaviors is lacking. The aim of this study was to explore how consumers may respond to future scenarios where alcohol is available via a range of autonomous alcohol delivery options. In a two-stage process, qualitative individual interviews (n = 100) and a quantitative online survey (n = 1078) were conducted with Australians aged 18+ years. Quotas were used to achieve national representation on key demographic variables. Participants were exposed to scenarios outlining how autonomous vehicles are likely to be used for alcohol deliveries in the future and asked to discuss their intentions to use such services and their perceptions of any impacts on alcohol consumption at a societal level. Automated alcohol deliveries were generally considered to be highly convenient and therefore likely to be popular. Around one-third (37%) of survey respondents reported an intention to use such automated alcohol delivery services once they are available and almost half (47%) expected overall levels of alcohol consumption to increase across the population. Given potential levels of uptake, careful consideration needs to be given to the development and implementation of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to minimize the increased risk of alcohol-related harm associated with enhanced alcohol availability resulting from the emerging availability of autonomous delivery services.