This Is How People Think About Autonomous Vehicles

Video: This Is How People Think About Autonomous Vehicles

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

Are we ready to give up the wheel? The Think Good Mobility study investigated the question. Autonomous cars are supposed to be our future, but many road users rate them rather cautiously. The study, which the tire manufacturer Goodyear carried out together with the London School of Economics (LSE), was not only about how people feel about self-driving cars, but also about when they would give up driving.

Your own benefit as the most important factor

The tire manufacturer and LSE are certain that autonomous vehicles will come. How quickly and to what extent this will happen is still uncertain. Based on current developments, the study examined how open people are to autonomous vehicles and the associated technologies.

The results show that acceptance for autonomous driving is rather restrained, especially in this country. This could possibly reflect the special cultural and emotional importance of the car. However, the study also suggests that the popularity of the new technology will increase as soon as the “driver” has an additional benefit. There were few limits to the imagination of the interviewees: “Then you can send your car to the bakery on Saturday morning. Put the note in, call, note is in it, money too,”was the answer of the interviewed persons.

Increasing security is also perceived as a rational benefit. "When I come home from a party, I prefer any autonomous car to having to drive myself," said one respondent. Many interviewees are skeptical about factors that change the way the car is used up to now. 79% of respondents believe that a driver should be in control of their car at all times. 72% agree that a driver must be able to communicate with other drivers if necessary, while 57% confirm that autonomous vehicles are unable to interact with human drivers due to a lack of common sense.

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Steering wheel, safety technology and smart tires are desired

When it comes to additional components that the respondents definitely want to find in autonomous vehicles, the top three are the steering wheel, which is important to 75% of the respondents, advanced safety technology to protect pedestrians, who want 66%, and smart tires which 58% do not want to miss. As the only physical connection between vehicle and road will continue to play an important role in the future, Goodyear has been dealing with smart tires for many years. "We see a future in which our products will network more closely with the vehicle, other road users or the infrastructure and thus react to the respective road conditions," explains Jürgen Titz, CEO of Goodyear for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The study undoubtedly shows that there are still reservations about autonomous vehicles among drivers. In doing so, she illustrates that the human factor will play an important role in future mobility concepts in addition to technology and, as it were, underlines the relevance of the street as a social space. She also suggests that once drivers see a clear benefit for road safety and their own individual mobility, they are more willing to accept the new technology.

About the study

The study is part of the Goodyear initiative Think Good Mobility. It includes the survey of focus groups from four different European countries with a total of 48 participants and an online study in which a total of 12,000 respondents from 11 countries took part. It refers to a study from 2015 when the LSE was used to investigate the social behavior of drivers on the road. The study is intended to contribute to the debate about the future of driving and road safety. (kj)