{"id":130417,"date":"2018-10-09T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=130417"},"modified":"2018-10-09T11:54:29","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T15:54:29","slug":"power-study-finds-total-lack-of-trust-in-autonomous-vehicle-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2018\/10\/power-study-finds-total-lack-of-trust-in-autonomous-vehicle-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Study Finds \u201cTotal Lack of Trust\u201d in Autonomous Vehicle Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Looks like its going to take Waymo rides, er, way more rides in Waymo's autonomous minivan to change opinions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even as automakers rush to bring autonomous and completely self-driving vehicles to market, perhaps as soon as the end of the decade, there\u2019s a deep distrust of the technology, with more than four out of 10 Americans saying they \u201cwould never ride in a fully automated vehicle.<\/p>\n

The lack of trust runs deep, according to Robert Lajdziak a researcher with J.D. Power and Associates, which conducted the new study in partnership with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, or NAMIC. Significantly, just as federal regulators have announced plans to ease restrictions on testing autonomous vehicles on public roads, those surveyed by Power and NAMIC questioned whether the government \u2013 as well as automakers and tech companies \u2013 can properly ensure the safety of the public.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new study likely reflects the fact that \u201cpeople\u2019s opinions have been swayed\u201d by recent incidents involving semi- and fully autonomous vehicles, including a fatal Uber crash earlier this year in Tempe, Arizona, said Lajdziak, in an exclusive interview with TheDetroitBureau.com ahead of the release of the new study.<\/p>\n

But even without the extensive media coverage of those crashes, skepticism would be broad, the Power researcher said, much as it is for most new technologies that consumers have yet to directly experience.<\/p>\n

(Honda implementing new tech to make smart intersections. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A new study suggests that most people will not feel as confident in self-driving vehicle as this guy napping in Waymo's minivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The study found fully 15% of the American public \u201cdon\u2019t believe there will ever be an autonomous vehicle on the market, and 42% said they would never ride in a fully automated vehicle,\u201d Lajdziak said, adding that even among those who would be willing to take a ride, more than half want to see the technology on the road for more than a decade before they would be willing to try it out.<\/p>\n

Prior studies have found that the public is far less tolerant of failures by autonomous technology than in conventional, human-operated vehicles. That carries over into the new research that found even among those who would be willing to ride in a robot car or cab, \u201cthe overwhelming number of customers said they would demand a 100% reduction in accidents \u2013 in other words, no accidents at all \u2013 before they would ride in one,\u201d said Lajdziak.<\/p>\n

While 56% of those surveyed would demand 100% safety before they would take a ride, 60% said they\u2019d demand the same level of safety before letting a family member ride in a fully autonomous vehicle.<\/p>\n

The new Power\/NAMIC study found attitudes varied significantly among different groups. Those 65 years of age and older were the least likely to say they\u2019d try out an autonomous vehicle, while those 35 and under were far more interested in going for a ride, nearly a third saying they\u2019d try it out within two years of the technology coming to market.<\/p>\n

But age wasn\u2019t the key factor in people\u2019s attitudes. Those most open to autonomous technology tend to live in urban environments, said Lajdziak.<\/p>\n

(To see more about why most drivers don’t know how to use smart safety tech in cars, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Police blamed the other driver for this crash with an Uber vehicle, but the incident still raised concerns about the ability of an autonomous car to steer clear of a crash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cChalk it up to a general acceptance of new technology,\u201d he said, \u201cand younger consumers tend to live in urban areas and use ride-sharing services.\u201d But when the same questions were posed to older consumers living in urban areas and familiar with ride-sharing services, \u201cthey were much more accepting, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study found a fair level of cynicism among consumers about autonomous technologies. Proponents typically promise that self-driving vehicles will deliver a sharp improvement in highway safety while also helping to address urban congestion. But the majority of those who responded to the new study said the real reason is to increase profits for auto, tech and insurance companies, while bringing in more revenue for government.<\/p>\n

And when asked who they would trust to make sure that autonomous technology is safely and adequately being tested, consumers said they didn\u2019t trust any of those entities. They specifically said they would most likely trust an independent organization like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.<\/p>\n

The new Power\/NAMIC study raises questions about the speed with which automakers and tech firms \u2013 with federal support \u2013 are racing autonomous vehicles to market, Lajdiak cautioned. That said, he added that the pessimistic public view could actually begin to soften once the technology becomes a viable reality.<\/p>\n

(Loss of control, viruses top safety hurdles for autonomous vehicles to clear. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for more details.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough all of our research we\u2019ve seen this as a trend across new technology: \u00a0(support) starts very low \u2026 but once it hits critical mass (support) accelerates,\u201d Lajdziak said. \u201cWhat I would expect to see is that once people see autonomous vehicle and ride one in a public arena we\u2019ll see interest rise and then their willingness to adopt the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rush of autonomous vehicle technology by automakers still hasn’t helped potential users overcome their concerns about the technology, according to a new J.D. Power study, with four out of 10 Americans saying they “would never” ride in an autonomous vehicle. Find out why at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[150,151,313,318,299,132,137,139,312,291,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130417"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=130417"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=130417"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=130417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}