Autonomous cars are considered to be the next disruptive innovation that will affect consumers. It can be expected that not only traditional automakers will enter this market (e.g., Ford) but also technology companies (e.g., Google) and newer companies dedicated to self-driving cars (e.g., Tesla). We take a brand extension perspective and analyze to what extent consumers prefer autonomous cars from these brand categories. Our empirical study is based on discrete choice experiments about adopting autonomous vehicles in a purchase scenario and in a renting context. Our findings show that brands play a central role when making autonomous driving decisions. Brand preferences differ systematically when buying versus renting a self-driving car. While technology brands are most preferred overall, consumers favor automaker brands over new brands only when purchasing, not when renting. We further disentangle the brand strength into the marginal effects of image associations. For example, Google’s strong brand positioning can be explained by experiences with the parent brand, but it could still improve brand strength by highlighting the relevance of the associated brand portfolio for self-driving cars. The effect of these brand extension success factors differs between parent-brand categories and also between the renting and purchasing scenarios, which requires a dedicated brand management.

自动驾驶汽车被认为是将影响消费者的下一个颠覆性创新。可以预见，不仅传统的汽车制造商（例如福特）将进入这个市场，而且技术公司（例如Google）也将进入自动驾驶汽车的新公司（例如特斯拉）。我们从品牌延伸的角度出发，分析消费者在多大程度上更喜欢这些品牌类别的自动驾驶汽车。我们的实证研究基于离散选择实验，该实验涉及在购买场景和租赁环境中采用自动驾驶汽车。我们的发现表明，品牌在制定自动驾驶决策时起着核心作用。购买和租用自动驾驶汽车时，品牌偏好在系统上有所不同。虽然技术品牌是整体上最受欢迎的品牌，消费者仅在购买时才喜欢汽车制造商品牌而不是新品牌，而不是在租车时。我们进一步将品牌实力分解为图像联想的边际效应。例如，谷歌强大的品牌定位可以通过母品牌的经验来解释，但是通过强调相关品牌组合对自动驾驶汽车的相关性，它仍然可以提高品牌实力。这些品牌延伸成功因素的影响在母品牌类别之间以及租用和购买场景之间都不同，这需要专门的品牌管理。但通过强调相关品牌组合对自动驾驶汽车的相关性，仍然可以提高品牌实力。这些品牌延伸成功因素的影响在母品牌类别之间以及租用和购买场景之间都不同，这需要专门的品牌管理。但通过强调相关品牌组合对自动驾驶汽车的相关性，仍然可以提高品牌实力。这些品牌延伸成功因素的影响在母品牌类别之间以及租用和购买场景之间都不同，这需要专门的品牌管理。