In the present study,two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of empathy on the acceptance of autonomous vehicles with different moral behav-ioral orientations.The results are as follows:(1)Low empath did not care about the moral orientation of autonomous vehicles(utilitarian/deontology)when self-interest was not involved but was more inclined to purchase self-protective cars when saving more lives mean self-sacrifice.(2)When self-interest was not involved,high empath individuals were more willing to purchase pro-social utilitarian autonomous vehicles,but could also accept autonomous vehicles to save themself,with comparable purchase intentions for pro-social utilitarian and self-protective au-tonomous vehicles.The results of this study provide some implications for resolving the social acceptance dilemma of autonomous vehicles.