Skip to main content

Study finds drivers open to automated driving

A new study by automotive company Continental finds a clear majority of motorists would welcome automated driving. The Continental Mobility Study 2013 indicates that 79 per cent of drivers in China, 77 per cent in Japan, 53 per cent in Germany, and 50 per cent in the US realise the benefit of automated driving. When asked about their individual intentions for using the technology, drivers specified they would primarily like to be driven through freeway roadworks and congestion and long freeway stretches.
January 21, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
A new study by automotive company 260 Continental finds a clear majority of motorists would welcome automated driving.

The Continental Mobility Study 2013 indicates that 79 per cent of drivers in China, 77 per cent in Japan, 53 per cent in Germany, and 50 per cent in the US realise the benefit of automated driving. When asked about their individual intentions for using the technology, drivers specified they would primarily like to be driven through freeway roadworks and congestion and long freeway stretches. They would also like to have self-parking cars.

Increasing production of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) has reduced the cost of the requisite technology to such an extent that these systems can now be offered in all vehicle classes.  The study shows that convenience-oriented advanced driver assistance systems already enjoy high usage rates; 90 per cent of motorists in Germany and China, 84 per cent in the US and 82 per cent in Japan appreciate their usefulness.

The majority of motorists surveyed in Germany and the US are familiar with automated driving. However, in Japan, slightly less than one in three motorists has heard of automated driving. After an explanation of the technology, more than half of all drivers viewed the option of having the vehicle take over the driving as a useful future development. At the same time, the results of the study show that automated driving is not yet as familiar to people as advanced driver assistance systems. A large number of the motorists surveyed worldwide are not convinced that automated driving will function reliably.

In addition, automated driving is an unsettling possibility for more than half of these motorists. Concerns are particularly marked in the US.

The results of the study do, however, also reveal the greater the acceptance of advanced driver assistance systems, the greater the acceptance of automated driving.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • In-vehicle automation of safety compliance and other traffic violations
    January 24, 2012
    David Crawford explores new initiatives in enforcement. Achieving the EU’s new road safety target of reducing road traffic deaths by 50 per cent by 2020 depends on removing legal and institutional barriers to the deployment of new enforcement technologies, stresses Jan Malenstein. The senior ITS Adviser to Dutch National Police Agency the KLPD, and a European-level spokesperson on road and traffic safety, points to the importance of, among other requirements, an effective EUwide type approval process for fr
  • EVs stir interest but face obstacles – IBM study
    May 18, 2012
    Many automobile industry executives believe that sales of traditional vehicles will peak before 2020 and are looking to electric-only vehicles (EVs) as one of the next hot products, but they will first have to address stringent consumer requirements about EV performance, recharging, and convenience, according to a new IBM survey of consumer attitudes and a recent study of auto industry executives.
  • V2V penetration in new vehicles to reach 62% by 2027
    March 20, 2013
    The latest research from ABI Research indicates that vehicle-to-vehicle technology based on Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) using the IEEE 802.11p automotive W-Fi standard will gradually be introduced in new vehicles driven by mandates and/or automotive industry initiatives, resulting in a penetration rate of 61.8% by 2027. ABI Research VP and practice director, Dominique Bonte comments, “While in the US there is a real possibility for a DoT mandate depending on the outcome of the large scale V2X
  • Study calls Inrix off-street parking the ‘clear winner’ in US and Europe
    January 21, 2016
    An independent off-street parking benchmark study carried out by automotive technology research firm SBD has concluded that ParkMe, an Inrix company, beat Parkopedia in data accuracy across the key attribute categories in five cities in the US and Germany. According to the study, overall, ParkMe was 12 per cent more accurate than Parkopedia across a set of core attributes that are essential to automakers for customer satisfaction. Most important, ParkMe was 23 per cent more accurate providing the precise