Nearly One-third of Consumers Would Give Up Their Car Before Their Smartphone (computerworld.com)

Lucas123 writes: A survey of 1,200 general consumers in four major countries by global tech design firm Frog found that 30% of respondents would give up their car before their smartphone. The online survey, which included the U.S., China, Denmark, and Germany, found that 37% of car owners would like to give up their car outright or felt they could get by without it by using an alternative form of transportation. "I think the people of my generation saw driving a vehicle as a rite of passage to adulthood. That was your freedom. I think the generation now views going from point A to point B as just occupying time that they could be doing something else," said Andrew Poliak of QNX Software Systems. At the same time, another survey revealed that even engineers continue to be wary of fully autonomous vehicles, including their vulnerability to hacks and exploits. The survey of IEEE members found they are not comfortable having autonomous vehicles pick up/drop off their children.

Comments

Re:The freedom of not having a car

[JaredOfEuropa]

Where I've tried both public transport and driving, I found that public transport took more time in most cases. And this is in the west of the Netherlands, where public transport is finely meshed, and roads are rather congested. Sure, I can read on the train (if I manage to find a seat), but time in a car isn't completely lost; I listen to the news or to new music I picked up. And in the end I prefer to save the 30-45 minutes each day on travel time even if it means paying through the nose for a car (€1.60/l for gas, and 21% VAT + a special tax on new cars; for larger cars the tax can exceed the factory price).

There's a psychological angle to it as well. When I leave the office and get in my car, I feel like the work day is done. But if I leave and get on the train, it somehow feels like I am still on the clock until I get to my front door. Silly, but there it is.