A survey from travel insurance company Allianz Global Assistance found attitudes towards AVs worsening compared with a year ago. Out of 1005 Americans surveyed as part of the fourth Sharing Economy Index, only 43% said they were interested in using AVs, down from 53% last year.
The overwhelming reason for people’s lack of interest was safety, with 71% of respondents declaring that they had safety concerns, six percentage points up compared to last year.
What’s more, only 52% said they were confident that technology will ever get to a point where they would consider trading in their conventional vehicles for self-driving ones.
Other reasons for people’s lack of interest included cost, lack of familiarity, bad publicity and not wanting to be a ‘guinea pig’.
Daniel Durazo, director of communications, Allianz Global Assistance USA, said, “Many Americans are far from being convinced that self-driving cars can be operated safely on our streets. As our Future of Travel survey last year indicated, more travellers would feel safer on a rocket to space than being a passenger in a self-driving vehicle.”
The results of this most recent survey echo those of a Cox survey released last month, which found that 49% of participants would not buy a Level 5 AV with no option for manual control.
By Illya Verpraet