Sales volumes in the automotive market are stagnating. Therefore, new market opportunities and sales potential must be developed that address the growing customer group of drivers 50+ with their increasing purchasing power. This customer group is likely to have a strong interest in maintaining mobility into old age due to their increasing individual physical limitations and their need for safety. The automotive market can ensure this demand for mobility by offering vehicles with individually equipped driver assistance systems at various levels of automation, offering increased safety on the roads specifically for the aforementioned 50+ customer group. However, the success of the driver assistance systems on the market remains below expectations.

This dissertation examines the willingness to pay of the 50+ age group using the Van-Westendorp-method and an empirical study. Motives and backgrounds for the manifestation of the willingness to pay remain unclear. Previous acceptance studies have so far not provided any clear results on technology acceptance in old age. Therefore, the acceptance of driver assistance systems in the 50+ age group is examined in more detail using an acceptance model derived from the literature, in which the influencing factors as critical success factors for the use of a technology are verified and analyzed with the help of a quantitative study. Not only the influencing factors such as "perceived usefulness", "perceived ease of use", "subjective norm", "trust in technology" and "personal innovativeness" are examined for the degree of acceptance of driver assistance systems, but also the influence of age and critical life events in the age group 50 years and older. Implications for research and practice are consequently derived from the results of the research studies.