Cars and Drivers

Americans Warm to Self-Driving Cars

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: September 27, 2016 11:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:05 am

One thing that companies developing self-driving, or autonomous, cars face is that Americans love the experience of driving themselves. Why buy a car you love and let it be driven by someone or something else? The self-driving car industry got some good news. A relatively large portion of Americans would give up the steering wheel and accelerator. On the other hand, people still are anxious about safety.

According to ReportLinker Insights:

1. More than 60% of surveyed Americans say they are somewhat or very positive about autonomous cars.
2. A large majority of Americans are passionate for automobiles and driving. They may not be ready to shift to a new driving paradigm as quickly.
3. Safety is a significant concern. A majority – 63% – of consumers say they won’t feel safe in a fully-automated vehicle.
4. Use of automated features on traditional cars could help to overcome the fear. But ride-sharing services offer also another way to experience AVs.

a. 54% of potential users of self-driving taxis say they would purchase an AV, compared to 41% of non-users.

b. Younger Millennials may pave the way for future growth of AVs as they express more interest in using driverless taxis or buses than older generations.

Bottom line: The crashes of Tesla and Google cars have been well publicized, and that will be hard to overcome. How can some of the most technologically proficient companies in the world have accident prevention problems? As long as these dangerous problems are on the front pages, the 63% may well grow.