Four out of five people ‘think autonomous vehicles are a good idea’

A new report from Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) and Royal Holloway, University of London, has revealed that four out of five of the people surveyed (81 per cent) are open to the idea of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the UK’s roads. The ‘Attitudes to AVs’ report shows that many people feel that AVs would help deliver a wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits. In addition, the levels of trust in AVs among the people surveyed was also shown to be fairly high, with 55 per cent of responde
August 23, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

A new report from Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) and Royal Holloway, University of London, has revealed that four out of five of the people surveyed (81 per cent) are open to the idea of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the UK’s roads.

The ‘Attitudes to AVs’ report shows that many people feel that AVs would help deliver a wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits.

In addition, the levels of trust in AVs among the people surveyed was also shown to be fairly high, with 55 per cent of respondents agreeing that they can trust an AV and 23 per cent saying they ‘somewhat’ agreed they would trust an AV to deliver them to their destination safely.

Chief scientist and research director, Transportation at TRL, Alan Stevens, commented: “While this survey looks at a relatively small and self-selecting sample of people, it is pleasing to see that so many of them were open to using an autonomous vehicle.

“Of course, there were also concerns expressed around certain parameters of an AV’s operation, namely the security of the software and what data the vehicle would store. However, these are issues that we are already beginning to address, with work taking place on various projects and trials.”

The study was run in conjunction with Royal Holloway as part of a larger project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and took the form of an online survey, which received 233 responses.

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

TRL

Related Content

  • Data handling important for autonomous vehicles
    December 8, 2016
    Data handling is becoming an ever-greater part of transportation and never more so than with autonomous vehicles, as Andrew Bardin Williams hears from some big names.
    Read More
  • Funding shortfall for US Interstate upgrades
    May 11, 2012
    Andrew Bardin Williams investigates tolling on the federal Interstate system as maintenance and upgrade requirements increasingly outpace funding The I-95 corridor through North Carolina is one of the most heavy trafficked interstates in the US, seeing upwards of 46,000 vehicles per day in some stretches-and North Carolina’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT) estimates this number will to rise to 98,000 vehicles per day by 2040. Along with the rest of the federal interstate system, the North Carolina str
    Read More
  • ‘Explosion of interest in smart cities’ says report
    March 5, 2013
    According to a new tracker report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, the past twelve months have seen an explosion of interest in the smart city concept. Cities around the world have announced new smart city strategies and innovative projects, and many existing programs have been rebranded as smart city initiatives. More than fifty per cent of smart city projects are focused on innovations in transportation and urban mobility. The tracker identifies and details 130 smart city proje
    Read More
  • Thales to upgrade four London Underground lines
    August 4, 2015
    French transportation group Thales has been awarded a £750 million (US$1,160 million) contract by Transport for London (TfL) to upgrade four London Underground (LU) lines. Under the contract, Thales will modernise the signalling and train control system on the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines. Known as the Sub-Surface Lines (SSL), the four lines form a complex network of interlinked routes with numerous junctions which comprise 40 per cent of the LU network and carry up to thre
    Read More

Highlighted Content