Have you considered that you would ever drive a fully autonomous car? Over the past several years, people in Ohio and around the country have been hearing more and more about the seemingly increasing pace of development and testing of the vehicles. While oftenn new technology becomes embraced more wholeheartedly by consumers as it advances and becomes closer to being generally available to the public, that may not necessarily be true of autonomous vehicles.
For the past two years in 2016 and 2017, J.D. Power and Associates has conducted a United States Technology Choice Study that takes a look at consumer views on self-driving cars. In particular, it attempts to measure the level of trust for this technology and these vehicles among various demographic groups. In all but one group, the 2017 study found that Americans are less trustful of autonomous cars than they were the year before.
While the study did not report on the particular reasons that people may have changed their views on this technology, one theory is that some very public accidents involving these cars may have impacted people’s trust. It is interesting to note, however, that some individual autonomous safety features like automatic braking or adaptive headlights are well respected and sought after by consumers. It is simply the fully autonomous car that people may be wary of.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give residents in Ohio an overview about how consumers across the United States in different generational groups view the safety of self-driving vehicles.
