According to a recent study commissioned by Seapine Software, 88% of U.S. adults would be worried about riding in a driverless car.
The survey, showed that 79% of U.S. adults would worry that the equipment in a driverless car will fail, such as a braking software glitch or failed warning sensor that alerts the driver of danger.
The study revealed concerns of U.S. adults would have about riding in driverless cars:
- 59% are worried about liability issues, such as who would be responsible if a driverless car is involved in an accident.
- 52% fear a hacker could breach the driverless car’s system and gain control of the vehicle.
- 37% worry auto companies, insurers, advertisers and municipalities may collect personal data such as where the car goes and how fast it’s traveling.
- 12% said they would not be worried about riding in a driverless car.
Men and women were in nearly complete agreement when expressing their concerns. The biggest gap in opinion was over the issue of responsibility with 64% of women stating they are worried about liability issues, compared to 54% of men.
Age was also not a factor in changing U.S. adults’ apprehensions, as 93% of adults 65 and older adults said they would be worried about riding in a driverless car, while 84 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds say the same.
On the hand, a Pew study found that Americans are more likely to ride in a driverless car than get a brain implant or eat cloned meat.
This survey was conducted within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Seapine Software among 2,039 adults ages 18 and over. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.