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

  • Truck platooning: the evidence is complex
    February 6, 2020
    A number of claims are made for the value of truck platooning. David Crawford looks at the figures from a new set of examples which suggest that the situation is more complex than you might think
  • Research reveals motoring costs cause many cars in the UK to go unused
    June 19, 2017
    Analysis from car sharing platform HyaCar indicates that nearly half of people in the UK cannot afford to own a car and those who do spend upwards of £2,500 each year on its general upkeep, excluding costs for petrol and overall depreciation.
  • Report finds LED replacement lamps don’t meet criteria
    January 13, 2015
    The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been conducting evaluations of LED replacement lamps, most recently those with a mogul base. Its report on phase 1 of the project, Mogul based LED replacement lamps, provides details of the market characterisation and pilot photometric testing of 18 representative mogul base LED lamps alone and in luminaires. LRC found that only four of the 18 lamps met the minimum DesignLights Consortium Qualified Products List criteria for retro
  • MobilityXX: ‘Women pay more for safe transport’
    October 8, 2021
    Laura Chace, new boss of ITS America, is fully behind the MobilityXX initiative, which promotes the role of women in transportation. She tells Adam Hill why the ’10 by 10’ target is so important…