ORLANDO: The global motor industry may be gung-ho at the moment to bring truly driverless cars to our roads and showrooms, but it appears the public's appetite for them might not be as vociferous as those developing them might like to believe.
That's because a new survey from the American Automobile Association (AAA) released this week has revealed that Americans are still frightened at the prospect of riding inside an autonomous car. But the data from the latest survey also shows more people now say they would trust a driverless car than was the case last year.
The AAA's latest survey shows 20 million more American drivers would trust an autonomous vehicle than the 2017 survey revealed. But in what is the third of these annual surveys by the AAA, 63 percent of drivers in the United States admitted they would be afraid to be a passenger in a vehicle that drove itself.
The new figures will at least offer some comfort to those companies spending billions of dollars developing driverless cars because last year, the percentage who said driverless cars scared of them was as high as 78 percent.
Another interesting statistic from the survey shows that there's quite a lot of love out there for semi-autonomous technology, rather than full autonomy. Some 51 percent of respondents said they want autonomous features in their vehicles, such as braking and steering. There is a caveat to that too though, and that's because last year that figure was higher at 59 percent.
Also, 73 percent of women questioned said they were afraid of the idea of riding in a driverless vehicle, compared to just 52 percent of men. And one of the more predictable aspects of the survey was that Millennials were the most trusting age group when it comes to the technology.
Only 49 percent of Millennials were still afraid, which is way down from last year's 73 percent. When it comes to Baby Boomers, 68 percent now fear vehicle autonomy, but even that is down from a pretty decisive 85 percent in the 2017 survey.
The AAA's automotive engineering and industry relations director, Greg Bannon, said in a press release, "AAA found that American drivers are very confident in their driving abilities, which may explain some hesitation to give up full control to a self-driving vehicle. Education, exposure and experience will likely help ease consumer fears as we steer toward a more automated future.
