Consumers Still Wary of Driverless Tech

Safety concerns about driverless vehicles haven’t subsided and are fueled in part by recent accidents involving the cars, according to a newly released study.

AAA research shows 66% of U.S. drivers have fear about fully autonomous vehicles, and another 25% expressed uncertainty about them. That’s after fears peaked at 68% last year after topping out at 55% in 2022. The percentage of those who trust the technology was flat at 9% after coming in around 15% the previous two years.

At the same time, survey respondents indicate interest in semiautonomous driving technology. Sixty-five percent said they’re interested in reverse automatic emergency braking, or AEB, in their next vehicle, while 63% expressed interest in automatic emergency braking, and 62% in lane-keeping assistance.

AAA said the results show that automakers must keep developing the technologies to reach performance consistency in order to assuage consumer fears.

Consumers beliefs in one direction or the other don’t always reflect test results of the technology, it pointed out. AAA said most survey respondents indicate they believe AEB would stop a vehicle from hitting an obstacle in the front or back, but AAA research recently found the systems avoided collisions in just one in 40 reverse-direction tests involving a crossing vehicle and 10 of 20 tests involving a child behind the vehicle.

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