{"id":213789,"date":"2021-11-30T15:28:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T20:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=213789"},"modified":"2021-11-30T15:28:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T20:28:35","slug":"self-driving-vehicles-appeal-to-drivers-but-they-dont-know-what-it-entails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/11\/self-driving-vehicles-appeal-to-drivers-but-they-dont-know-what-it-entails\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Driving Vehicles Appeal to Drivers, But They Don’t Know What it Entails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As automakers rush to develop self-driving cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans, most consumers have an incorrect perception of the emerging technology. That\u2019s the latest finding of the J.D. Power 2021 Mobility Confidence Index Study released Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Self-driving cars, like GM’s Cruise AV, wouldn’t need a steering wheel on the instrument panel.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Driver education is key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When asked to choose one of seven possible descriptions that correctly defines fully automated self-driving vehicles, a mere 37% of respondents chose one of the two correct answers, with one defining Level 4 autonomy, the other Level 5. Fifty-five percent of respondents incorrectly selected descriptions of driver assist technology rather than self-driving technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s worse is that among drivers who profess to have more knowledge of fully automated self-driving vehicles, only 32% could describe it correctly. Among those who knew nothing of the technology, 37% described it correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a \u2018Danger, Will Robinson\u2019 moment for the fully automated self-driving vehicle industry,\u201d said Lisa Boor, senior manager of global automotive at J.D. Power. \u201cThere is a significant gap between actual and perceived AV knowledge. Right now, consumers don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The new Ford Fusion Hybrid is a third-generation test vehicle that Argo AI is now testing in Detroit.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumer overconfidence and lack of knowledge to date can lead to risk taking that will cause the AV industry to hit a lot of potholes,\u201d said Bryan Reimer, Ph.D., research scientist in the MIT AgeLab and associate director of The New England University Transportation Center at MIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey also found that among the 51% of consumers interested in automated vehicles, 53% believe the best way to learn about AVs is a special driver\u2019s education course for self-driving vehicles, and 58% are willing to take such a class. So a slim majority of drivers realize their lack of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acceptance of AVs is rising<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But overall confidence in\u00a0automated automobiles is growing according to J.D. Power, with 42% of those surveyed expressing confidence in\u00a0fully automated self-driving vehicles. That\u2019s up from 34% a year ago. And 31% had full confidence in fully automated delivery vehicles. But that level of acceptance rises to 47% among those whose vehicles have driver assist technology. When asked, consumers also saw AVs as being a boon to those who can\u2019t drive due to age, illness or injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But acceptance will increase only if the safety of AVs is assured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tesla
Tesla’s own semi-autonomous Autopilot tech came under suspicion after this January crash. Safety is key to automated vehicle acceptance.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrganizations working as technology pioneers have the responsibility to create realistic and accurate consumer expectations for what their products can and cannot do,” Reimer said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Small setbacks in public trust triggered by misuse of systems or a failure of a system to perform based upon misconceived consumer expectations may hamper deployments over the coming decades, depriving consumers of the convenience and safety benefits the technology can potentially offer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like, say, Tesla?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will it take to enhance consumer knowledge?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given that OEMs disguise common driver assist technology behind different marketing names rather than common ones, it\u2019s no wonder that consumers have little understanding of self-driving technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClear, consistent messaging from industry stakeholders is needed to improve the accuracy of consumer AV knowledge,\u201d Boor said. \u201cThe industry needs to be the catalyst for educating the public before running into such speed bumps. AV education must expand beyond current, traditional learning methods.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drivers don\u2019t know much about self-driving vehicles, but that isn\u2019t stopping the technology\u2019s growing acceptance. TheDetroitBureu.com digs through the numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13752,"featured_media":50932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,13,12,9],"tags":[2054,3766,3767,3768,1197],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213789"}],"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\/13752"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213789"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213844,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213789\/revisions\/213844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213789"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=213789"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=213789"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=213789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}