Skip to main content

Motorists prefer 'no self-driving capability’, says survey

The latest report by Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the University of Michigan, builds on their recent series of eight reports addressing public opinion, human factors, and safety-related issues concerning self-driving vehicles. An identical survey to that used in 2015 was administered. The survey was developed to examine motorists’ preferences among levels of vehicle automation, including preferences for interacting with and overall concern about riding in s
May 24, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The latest report by Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the University of Michigan, builds on their recent series of eight reports addressing public opinion, human factors, and safety-related issues concerning self-driving vehicles. An identical survey to that used in 2015 was administered.

The survey was developed to examine motorists’ preferences among levels of vehicle automation, including preferences for interacting with and overall concern about riding in self-driving vehicles. Completed responses were received from 618 licensed drivers in the US.

The main findings include: The most frequent preference for vehicle automation continues to be for no self-driving capability, followed by partially self-driving vehicles, with completely self-driving vehicles being the least preferred choice;  Concern for riding in self-driving vehicles remains higher for completely self-driving vehicles than for partially self-driving vehicles; Respondents still overwhelmingly want to be able to manually control completely self-driving vehicles when desired; Preferences were generally divided between touch-screens or voice commands to input route or destination information for completely self-driving vehicles; Most respondents prefer to be notified of the need to take control of a partially self-driving vehicle with a combination of sound, vibration, and visual warnings.

The authors say that overall public opinion has been remarkably consistent over the two years that this survey has been conducted. The general patterns of responses have not changed over the course of these two surveys, despite the increased media coverage of self-driving vehicles.

Related Content

  • A virtual virtuous circle
    March 19, 2021
    Virtual sensors will allow a safer driving experience and reduce road maintenance costs. Tactile Mobility’s Eitan Grosbard talks to David Arminas
  • A pothole damage breakthrough?
    April 11, 2013
    Academic research by two universities in the same UK city shows that patch repairs on potholes could be far more durable if a few simple techniques were consistently used. Guy Woodford reports. Repairing pothole damage to highways and vehicles across Europe costs responsible authorities and individual motorists hundreds of millions of euros each year. Yet it has cost just €20,204 to make the potentially crucial first step in identifying a method of keeping highways across the continent and beyond pothole fr
  • Research shows fall in US motorcyclist deaths
    May 13, 2014
    New research shows a drop in motorcyclist deaths in the US. The figures compiled for the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) show a 7% drop in motorcyclist fatalities in the US in 2013, compared with data for the previous year. However, the GHSA cautions that poor weather in 2013 may have had an effect, reducing the total distance travelled by motorcyclists and therefore the numbers of crashes. Research shows 2013 to be only the second year since 1997 in which there has been a drop in motorcyclist d
  • Debating the future of road transport
    February 23, 2012
    Mobility is essential for prosperity. How the transport industry will respond to future needs was debated by ERTRAC How will we travel in 2030? That question was posed in a debate on future scenarios of road transport during the launch of the 'Road Transport futures 2030 initiative,' organised in Brussels recently by ERTRAC (the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council).