Slow to Robo

Familiarity and confidence with autonomous cars has increased in the past 10 years, though willingness to completely relinquish control to fully self-driven vehicles has actually fallen. 

Cox Automotive recently conducted a new round of a survey it first carried out in 2016 to gauge U.S. consumer openness to autonomous vehicles for both ownership and taxi-style service. 

Familiarity with the technology has significantly increased since that time, according to the latest survey results, from 40% to 58%, Cox reported. More consumers also believe all vehicles will be fully autonomous in their lifetimes – 46% compared to 37% in the last survey five years ago. 

While more consumers say they’d choose a partially autonomous vehicle for their next purchases if all five levels were available, just 10% said they’d opt for Level 5, which is fully autonomous. Ten years ago, 17% of survey respondents said they’d choose a Level 5. 

That decline in confidence in fully autonomous travel comes despite the greatly increased familiarity of self-driving technology resulting from the partially autonomous features in many cars for sale today and from the spread of robotaxis in bigger cities. 

“The auto industry has always had longer adoption curves for new technologies,” said Cox Senior Manager of Market and Customer Research Vanessa Ton.  

“Even hybrid vehicles, which have been available to U.S. consumers for more than 25 years, account for only about one in five new-vehicle sales today. For autonomous vehicles, safety concerns and high-profile incidents have slowed progress, but the growing acceptance of robotaxis seen in this year’s study indicates that attitudes are clearly evolving.” 

When it comes to taking one of those taxis, 55% of respondents said they’re open to the idea, and Cox said it believes that percentage would be higher if the self-driving vehicles were more widely available. Today’s robotaxi usage is 18% nationally and 33% in cities where the taxis operate. 

Taking a robotaxi appears to increase consumer confidence in vehicle autonomy, Cox said, as 83% of respondents indicated riding in one improved their perception of the technology and that they would ride in one again. 

On the other hand, 61% of people who haven’t taken a robotaxi cite discomfort with riding in a vehicle with no human driver present, underlining a major hurdle providers would need to overcome to increase usage. High-profile incidents with some of the taxis has contributed to the unease, Cox said.