Americans Still Deeply Skeptical About Driverless Cars, Says Poll (theverge.com)

A new poll was released today that basically repeats data we've seen in previous surveys: Americans still don't trust self-driving cars, and are nervous about the coming onslaught. The Verge reports: Asked how concerned they'd be to share the road with a driverless car, 31 percent said they'd be "very concerned," while 33 percent said "somewhat concerned," according to the poll which was just released by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. A majority (63 percent) said they would not support "mass exemptions" from federal motor vehicle safety standards for self-driving cars, and were not comfortable (75 percent) with automakers having the power to remotely disable vehicle controls, such as the steering wheel, and brake and gas pedals, when the autonomous vehicle is being operated by the computer. And people overwhelmingly support (75 percent) the U.S. Department of Transportation developing new standards related to driverless vehicles. The poll surveyed 1,005 adults between December 7-10th, 2017, with a margin of error of +/- 3.09 percent.

Comments

Well...

[jawtheshark]

I'm not an American, but I'm wary too. Besides, I like driving. When the topic comes up, most people who welcome driverless cars seem to be those that hate driving or have to spend a lot of time in traffic jams.

My main concern is not safety. I worry that driving will become cost prohibitive if driverless cars have a certain amount of adoption. Insurance companies will say "use driverless, or you pay X times more". That would relegate driving to the rich. Also, it would make current cars worthless overnight. Poorer people wouldn't be able to afford personal transportation at all any more, since there won't be enough second hand driverless cars. All in all a rather bleak future in my eyes.

Re:Well...

[JMZero]

I think you're right that "car ownership" would become less accessible over time, but I think "transportation by car" is likely to get very cheap. I think we'll see ubiquitous "Driverless Uber" style services pop up everywhere (in a variety of flavors), and that's how the non-wealthy get around (at least in urban settings).

But I also think the transition will take a while, especially in rural areas - enough so that I don't think the transition will be too brutal for most people economically. If anything, some may benefit from cheaper human driven cars as they're essentially discarded. But yeah, further out in time it will definitely not be good for people who like driving - just as it's currently very expensive/awkward to maintain and use a horse drawn carriage.

I think some people are jumping the gun a bit right now, but once driverless cars are reliable they're going to go from niche to everywhere very quickly.

Safer than humans

[Hadlock]

I think most people haven't shared a street with them. I spent two years in the same city with these things, as a pedestrian, driver, and cyclist. They're infinitely patient with cyclists, hyper-paranoid about pedestrians wandering in to the street, like a parent is with their toddler.
 
Two weeks around self driving cars and you pretty much immediately realize that humans are just sacks of meat piloting cars, is about the dumbest idea, and the pedestrian fatality statistics back that up.
 
If I were to describe the "personality" of a self driving car, imagine a super chilled-out Mr. Rodgers paitent type, but he's also double-dosed on adderall and hyper alert for pedestrians, got 9 hours of sleep last night, good blood sugar, and his cell phone is on silent, locked in the trunk. And he has an IQ of 175 and can see in all directions and does not blink, and has a third eye that can see through shrubs and around cars.
 
Compare to the sleep-deprived, over caffinated, underfed mother who is juggling three kid's schedules and probably running late to pick up johnny from swim class while answering a phone call and trying to remember if she needs to pick up groceries on the way home.