Skip to main content

Three-quarters of UK drivers ‘don’t want a driverless car’

This week the government announced plans to put US$31 million into the research of driverless cars. Thanks to this funding, autonomous cars are set to be trialled in the UK by the end of the year. With this in mind, independent vehicle supply group OSV carried out a survey to find out if they wanted driverless cars. Surveys were previously carried out when the conception of autonomous cars was first released. OSV wanted to know if opinions about driverless cars have changed now the research has develope
July 31, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
This week the government announced plans to put US$31 million into the research of driverless cars. Thanks to this funding, autonomous cars are set to be trialled in the UK by the end of the year.
 
With this in mind, independent vehicle supply group OSV carried out a survey to find out if they wanted driverless cars. Surveys were previously carried out when the conception of autonomous cars was first released. OSV wanted to know if opinions about driverless cars have changed now the research has developed.

The results were overwhelming; 75% per cent of the UK population said they did not want an autonomous car. People from England are even more against driverless cars, with 82 per cent saying they wouldn’t want one. People from Scotland are slightly keener than other countries in the UK with 26 per cent admitting they would want a driverless car.

Interestingly, men are more drawn to driverless cars than women, with 30 per cent of those surveyed stating that they would like one.  Only 19 per cent of females would like an autonomous car.

According to OSV, this contradicts other research which suggests women have the most to gain. Those with driverless cars will not need a driving license and with more women than men without licenses, women therefore will benefit the most.

Another insight from the survey found that 43 per cent of 18-25 year olds would want to buy an autonomous car. At the other end of the spectrum only 10 per cent of 55-64 year olds shared the same interest. Surprisingly, that figure rose to 27 per cent for the over 65s, which OSV says shows that the youngest and eldest age groups are the most interested in the driverless car revolution.

Related Content

  • December 4, 2013
    Alliance stages North American back office interoperability trial
    JJ Eden, President and CEO of the Alliance for Toll Interoperability, talks to Jason Barnes about the new inter-agency hub, which will facilitate national transactions When it comes to achieving interoperability, the sheer diversity of technologies in operation in the US is perhaps the tolling industry’s greatest defining characteristic and its biggest challenge. The situation is in stark contrast with some other regions of the world, such as Europe where the use of common front-end Dedicated Short-Range
  • August 4, 2015
    Survey: Majority of UK public remains worried about global warming
    A new survey of over 2,000 members of the public by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and ICM Unlimited has found that 57 per cent of the public are worried about global warming, with 14 per cent saying they were ‘very worried’. The poll found that 64 per cent of people think global warming is already a problem now, while 70 per cent said they think global warming will be a problem in 20 years’ time. The main issues the respondents said they were worried about were flooding and sea level rises (63
  • May 27, 2016
    Survey - majority of people would be reluctant to be a passenger in a driverless car
    According to a survey carried out by ICM Unlimited on behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 55 per cent of the 2002 people surveyed said they were unlikely to want to be a passenger of a driverless car, with 40 per cent saying they were very unlikely to want to be a passenger. Just 21 per cent said they would be happy to ride in a driverless vehicle. Philippa Oldham, head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “The benefits of driverless vehicle tech
  • October 28, 2022
    E-scooters show financial benefit: report
    Neuron Mobility puts figure of £11,000 per scooter for UK local economies