Skip to main content

ADVI research shows most Australians want self-driving cars

Seventy per cent of Australians want a self-driving car able to take over when they feel tired or bored, according to new research by the Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), announced at this week’s ITS World Congress. In addition, just under three quarters (73%) of Australians would like an autonomous vehicle to transport them when they feel physically or mentally unable to drive manually. The survey, of 5,000 Australians aged over 18, is the first comprehensive national study of the Aus
October 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
South Australian transport and infrastructure minister Stephen Mullighan on the Advi stand
Seventy per cent of Australians want a self-driving car able to take over when they feel tired or bored, according to new research by the Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), announced at this week’s 6456 ITS World Congress.

In addition, just under three quarters (73%) of Australians would like an autonomous vehicle to transport them when they feel physically or mentally unable to drive manually.

The survey, of 5,000 Australians aged over 18, is the first comprehensive national study of the Australian public's attitude toward driverless vehicles.

“Given the lack of community interaction with self-driving cars to date, it's encouraging that almost half (47%) of the Australian population believe they will be safer than humans,” said professor Michael Regan of the Australian Road Research Board.

Regan added that a quarter disagree driverless cars will be safer, and a quarter remain undecided, highlighting the importance of continued community education to communicate the safety benefits.

Interestingly, the research also found that more than half (62%) of Australians do not think autonomous technology should increase the cost of a vehicle.

Related Content

  • January 23, 2012
    Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
  • June 3, 2021
    Half of Brits want e-scooter restrictions
    Survey respondents in UK say licences and age restrictions are vital for safety
  • November 21, 2013
    Autonomous vehicles, the pros and cons
    Driver interface and human factors could provide the biggest obstacles to autonomous vehicles as Jon Masters discovers.
  • April 15, 2016
    University of Michigan, Toyota partner on connected car research
    On the heels of last week’s announcement that Toyota is putting more boots on the ground in Ann Arbor to study fully autonomous driving and advanced mobility, Toyota is to partner with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) at the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment (AACVTE) in an operational real-world deployment of connected vehicles and infrastructure. AACVTE is a real-world implementation of connected vehicle safety technologies being used by everyday driver