Americans remain skeptical about autonomous driving technologies, a research from Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) has revealed.
The coalition, which aims to improve the public’s understanding of autonomous vehicles, conducted a poll of 1,200 adults across the U.S. earlier this year to determine their views on current autonomous vehicle technologies.
Nearly 3 in 4 respondents believe AV technology is “not ready for primetime”, while 48 per cent said they “would never get in a taxi or ride-share vehicle that was being driven autonomously.” In addition, only 34 per cent of those polled believe the advantages of autonomous vehicles outweigh any potential disadvantages and just 18 per cent would be willing to get on a waiting list for an autonomous vehicle.
On a slightly more positive note for car manufacturers and technology companies developing self-driving vehicles, 58 per cent of people believe safe AVs will be available in 10 years. On the other hand, 20 per cent believe they will never be safe.
Unsurprisingly, Americans who own vehicles with advanced driver assistance technologies reported having greater knowledge about AVs and are more confident with them. For example, 75 per cent of Americans who own vehicles with such semi-autonomous features agree that they “can’t wait to see what new safety features will be in my next vehicle” and “will feel safer on the road when I know that most other vehicles have enhanced safety features.”
Read Also: Is It Time To Curb Our Enthusiasm For Autonomous Driving?
Photos PAVE
The public perception of autonomous vehicles is not solely tied to high-profile incidents such as Uber’s crash in 2018, when a pedestrian was killed, or crashes involving Tesla’s Autopilot. 51 per cent of respondents said they know nothing at all about the Uber incident, while 37 per cent said they know just “a little” about it. 32 per cent of those who know a lot about the fatal crash say AVs are safer now, much more than the 11 per cent of those that know a little about the crash and the 7 per cent of those that know nothing. Similarly, 49 per cent of Americans know nothing at all about Tesla Autopilot crashes while 38 per cent said they know just a little.
“The results of this survey confirm that autonomous vehicles face major perception challenges, and that education and outreach are the keys to improving trust,” executive director at PAVE, Tara Andringa said. “These insights provide both motivation and direction to our effort to confront this educational challenge.”
