According to the survey, carried out by ICM Unlimited on behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), 55% of the 2002 people surveyed said they were unlikely to want to be a passenger of a driverless car, with 40% said they were very unlikely to want to be a passenger. Just 21% of the people surveyed said they would be happy to ride in a driverless vehicle.
“The benefits of driverless vehicle technology are huge, with estimates that it could be worth as much as £51billion a year to the UK due to fewer accidents, improved productivity and increased trade,” said Philippa Oldham, Head of Transport and Manufacturing at the IMechE. “Furthermore with 95% of all vehicle accidents being the result of human error, it makes sense to look at how we can use this new technology to help save lives.”
The Government pledged in the recent Queen’s speech to reduce red-tape around the use of autonomous cars and that the legal system would be adapted to take into account issues such as insurance liability when a human is not in control of a vehicle. However, the survey shows that there is still a long way to go before public confidence in the effectiveness and safety benefits of driverless technology is satisfied.
Many vehicles already feature driverless technology, such as a self-parking functionality and automatic braking, so Oldham said, public perceptions are likely to change over time. “Government and industry must work together not only to better educate and inform the public about driverless car technology but to make sure that they are developing the products that the end users want,” she concluded.
