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

  • Need for standardisation of toll classes
    March 2, 2012
    In a previous article Bob Lees of Idris Technology Ltd looked at the appropriateness of toll classes in relation to all-electronic toll fee collection. Here, he looks at how addressing classification standardisation could avoid downstream aggravation and cost
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
  • Driving forward cooperative intersection safety applications
    July 24, 2012
    Gregory Davis, FHWA, John Harding, NHTSA, and Mike Schagrin, ITS Joint Program Office (RITA) chart the course for cooperative intersection safety applications being pursued as part of the IntelliDrive programme. Crashes at intersections accounted for 8,703 highway fatalities in the US in 2008. Research and development is moving forward on IntelliDriveSM safety applications designed to help drivers avoid intersection accidents. These new safety systems could substantially drive down the highway death and inj
  • WIM industry ponders certification challenge
    April 29, 2019
    It’s hard to pin down the world of Weigh in Motion. Adam Hill asks five of the sector’s leading players about current developments – and whether problems with certification will ever be solved