June 2016
Featured in this insight: Automotive, Financial services, IT & telecommunications, International
US survey reveals consumers opinions of driverless vehicles: A recent driverless car survey by the University of Michigan has revealed that the majority of the survey respondents were not interested in entirely driverless cars, with nearly 50 per cent saying that they would just as soon forget about autonomous cars completely.
Recently, technology companies, car manufacturers, insurance companies and government agencies have been speaking a lot about how autonomous cars will reduce collisions and save money. As well as this, they claim that they will contribute to more efficient transport options. The respondents of the University of Michigan were not as sold on the idea, however.
The survey released recently was a follow-up the University’s July 2015 survey. Although conducted 10 months apart, the findings were largely the same, despite the autonomous technologies being heavily featured in the news. In the 2016 survey, 46 per cent said that they would prefer a car with no autonomous driving technology, whereas 39 per cent said that they prefer partial self-driving features. Just 15 per cent of the survey respondents said that they would prefer an entirely autonomous car.
In the 2015 survey, 43.8 per cent of the respondents said that they would prefer a car with no autonomous driving technologies, whereas 40.6 said that they would prefer a partially autonomous car. Just 15.6 per cent said that they would prefer an entirely driverless car.
The two surveys both uncovered a preference for cars with steering wheels, accelerator pedals and brakes. Even the respondents who said that they would prefer an entirely driverless vehicle, many want to be able to control the direction and speed of the car.
Another survey by the American Automobile Association, which was published in March 2016, revealed that 75 per cent were too afraid to take a trip in an autonomous car.
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