As the global automobile industry undergoes rapid intelligent transformation, understanding public acceptance of autonomous driving emerges as a critical research challenge. This study adopts the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as its theoretical framework to conduct a comparative analysis between China and Europe, two major automotive markets and central arenas for the development of autonomous driving. It investigates how contextual factors—including policy support, infrastructure, social trust, and cultural values—influence acceptance patterns. The findings show that in China, strong policy guidance, rapid infrastructure deployment, and large-scale demonstration projects have substantially increased willingness to adopt, while the widespread use of L2-level systems has enhanced public familiarity with the technology. Nonetheless, high-profile accidents have also exposed vulnerabilities in public trust. In contrast, European consumers demonstrate a more cautious stance, emphasizing legal liability, data privacy, and ethical compliance, while simultaneously regarding autonomous driving as a means of achieving carbon reduction, traffic safety, and sustainable mobility. The results further indicate that in the European context, institutional guarantees and prior experience are decisive, with accident memory and institutional trust serving as critical moderators within TAM pathways.

Under the background of the acceleration of intelligent transformation of the global automobile industry, autonomous driving technology has become a key area of technological competition. The public's acceptance of autonomous driving technology not only reflects the maturity of the technology itself, but also reflects the differences in deep variables such as the influence of multiple factors such as policy support, social trust, and cultural concepts. This paper takes the technology acceptance model (TAM) as its theoretical basis, and conducts a cross-regional comparative study on the acceptance of autonomous driving in China and Europe in the context of China and Europe as the two major automobile markets and key areas for the development of autonomous driving technology. The study found that in China, policy orientation, infrastructure laying and scenario demonstration have significantly enhanced the public's willingness to accept, especially the high popularity of L2-level autonomous driving has strengthened the foundation of technical cognition; but major accidents have also exposed the fragility of technical trust. In contrast, European consumers have a more conservative attitude towards autonomous driving, paying extensive attention to legal responsibility definition, privacy protection and ethical compliance, and regard autonomous driving as an important tool for achieving carbon reduction, traffic safety and sustainable travel. Its acceptance is highly dependent on institutional guarantees and actual experience. In particular, accident memory and institutional trust play a significant regulatory role in the TAM path.