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

  • One in 20 adults involved in UK road accident in 2012, IAM claims
    August 8, 2013
    One in 20 adults was involved in a road accident in the UK in 2012, according to road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Referring to information from the National Travel Survey (NTS) published by the Department for Transport (DfT), the IAM says the survey shows that 5.2% of the population admit to having been involved in an accident. The IAM says the DfT figures also reveal that men (5.6%) are more likely to be involved in an accident than women (4.8%). Overall, the IAM adds, the fi
  • Concern at worsening road safety worldwide
    May 22, 2019
    The latest road safety data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) provides a serious cause for concern. The annual global road fatality rate has increased in the three years since the WHO last carried out a study of worldwide crash statistics. The report says that 1.35 million people are now killed on the world’s roads every year, compared with a figure of 1.25 million three years ago. The problem is particularly acute in the developing world, where increasing vehicle numbers combine with poor levels
  • EVENT: wildlife-vehicle collision reduction
    May 9, 2024
    A symposium this month in Sydney by the Australasian Network for Ecology and Transportation (ANET) and the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) will explore how new and emerging technologies are helping reduce the millions of mammal deaths annually – an estimated four million in Australia alone.
  • Reducing congestion while maximising safety in road construction work zones
    April 30, 2015
    Mike Dreznes, executive vice president at the International Road Federation (IRF) discusses road safety for work zone areas. Work zones around the world can create significant congestion and can cost society billions of dollars. Estimates in the United States alone include approximately 87,600 work zone crashes involving 37,500 injuries that result in 482 million lost hours, valued at approximately US$6.5 billion. When considering these numbers worldwide, it becomes clear that work zone safety and work zone