Technology companies might be rushing headlong to autonomous cars, but the public is less than certain about the change. A survey conducted by Gartner found that 55 percent of respondents would be willing to set foot in a driverless car; although 71 percent of those people would consider a partially autonomous option.
Despite these misgivings, the respondents agreed that autonomous technology offers the benefit increased safety in the event that the driver gets tired. They also agreed that the travel time could be better spent on work or entertainment.
Interestingly, more than half of car owners surveyed said that they would not want to give up their own cars. Even if the system would reduced the expense of ownership by 75 percent. It would seem that the convenience of owning a car still outweighs any other benefit gained by using ridesharing services.
“Fear of autonomous vehicles getting confused by unexpected situations, safety concerns around equipment and system failures and vehicle and system security are top concerns around using fully autonomous vehicles,” explains Mike Ramsey, research director at Gartner.
One thing to note about the survey is that it was conducted in the US and Germany. While Germany has been known to quickly adopt new technologies on a national scale, the US is traditionally slow to adjust to new ideas.
