New study: public continues to be wary of driverless cars

The majority of people (66 per cent) would be uncomfortable travelling in a driverless car at 70mph, according to a new study of 2,053 members of the public, carried out by ICM Unlimited on behalf of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The news follows last week’s announcement that the Government has awarded a contract to TRL to test platoons of driverless lorries on major British roads by the end of next year. According to the findings, younger people tend to be more accepting of the technology, wi
August 30, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The majority of people (66 per cent) would be uncomfortable travelling in a driverless car at 70mph, according to a new study of 2,053 members of the public, carried out by ICM Unlimited on behalf of the UK 5025 Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The news follows last week’s announcement that the Government has awarded a contract to 491 TRL to test platoons of driverless lorries on major British roads by the end of next year.

According to the findings, younger people tend to be more accepting of the technology, with 45 per cent of 25-36 year olds saying they would be comfortable in a 70mph driverless car, compared to just 13 per cent 65-74 year olds and eight per cent of over 75s. Women tended to be more cautious about the technology, with 72 per cent saying they would be uncomfortable compared to 60 per cent for men.

The survey found that 50 per cent of the public think that humans are better drivers than computers/cars, despite the fact that 90 per cent of UK road accidents are the result of driver error.

While the survey also showed that there is reluctance by the public to allow people who are sight-impaired to be the sole occupant of a driverless car, with just 23 per cent saying this should be allowed, there was also very little acceptance for people who are intoxicated being responsible for a driverless car, with just 12 per cent saying this would be acceptable.

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Peer-to-peer car sharing expected to become the next big thing in the market
    October 22, 2013
    Frost & Sullivan’s recent customer research study on car sharing in select European cities reveals that the market is fast gaining ground. Residents in a number of cities in France, Germany as well as in the UK are currently multi-modal transport users. While only one out of four claim familiarity with the car sharing concept, once familiar, the interest levels in these services zip to 38 per cent.
    Read More
  • Idris paves the way for loop based speed enforcement
    February 1, 2012
    With the Idris system now validated as a speed verification tool, the way is open for loops to be used in more complex enforcement applications. Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), developer of the Idris inductive loop-based vehicle detection and classification system, has recently successfully conducted validation trials which, the company says, open the way for Idris to be used for speed verification and loop-based sensors to be used for more complex applications such as speed-on-green and differential spe
    Read More
  • In-vehicle systems as enforcement enablers?
    January 30, 2012
    From an enforcement perspective at least, Toyota's recent recalls over problems with accelerator pedal assemblies had a positive outcome in that for the first time a major motor manufacturer outside of the US acknowledged publicly what many have known or suspected for quite a while: that the capability exists within certain car companies to extract data from a vehicle onboard unit which can be used to help ascertain, if not prove outright, just what was happening in the vital seconds up to an accident or cr
    Read More
  • CBI/AECOM Survey: Three quarters of firms and public doubt improvement over this Parliament
    October 25, 2017
    74% of firms doubt infrastructure will improve over this Parliament and 76% the public doubt any improvement will occur, according to the CBI/AECOM Infrastructure survey 2017. The findings show that both business and the public are concerned about the pace of delivery and a record number of firms are dissatisfied with the state of infrastructure in the region. The report showed that 96% of the 727 businesses surveyed see infrastructure as important to the government’s agenda and 55% view it as critical.
    Read More

Highlighted Content