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

  • Astec Industries CEO and president Ben Brock says stay focused and true to win
    July 8, 2016
    Core values, constant innovation and looking after the customer are the key drivers for Ben Brock, chief executive officer and president of Astec Industries. How does he keep his company ahead of the pack and what does he think that the future holds? if you ask Ben Brock to explain how his Astec Industries group has managed to do so well for so long, he doesn’t even pause for breath. “That’s easy, I thank the good doctor. He always told me: do good work and take care of the customer ... which is exactl
  • Australia responds to infrastructure funding challenge
    July 13, 2012
    The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has drastically changed the way governments and the private sector is prepared to procure vital infrastructure projects, says Philip Davies Governments have responded to the GFC by focusing on long term investment in transport infrastructure and shorter term stimulus packages to kick-start economies. As these projects proceed, the focus will shift to maintaining and achieving maximum benefits from assets and future infrastructure funding. The Public Private Partnership (PP
  • Workzone vests get wired for sound, thanks to Virginia Tech university
    December 11, 2015
    Researchers at Virginia Tech university in the United States have put small radio sensors on or inside vests to allows cars to “talk” to one another, roadside infrastructure, and personal electronics such as mobile phones. If a collision is about to occur between a vehicle and a worker, the vest can warn the worker in a matter of seconds about the impending crash. Likewise, the motorist will receive a dashboard notification.The instantaneous alert is possible by short-range communication, according to a sta
  • CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 will help you imagine what’s next
    March 15, 2017
    What sort of key trends will be on show, and how will these new technologies shape the sector over the coming years? Alan Dron interviewed Al Cervero, the AEM senior vice-president for construction, utility and mining on how the show will reveal what is coming. The theme for this year’s event is “Imagine what’s next”, a particularly appropriate title in view of the changes in both technology and the environment in which that technology will be used.