While the study confirms drivers' wariness with ceding control to AV technology, nearly two in five respondents (43% in Europe, 37% in the United States) express comfort with low-speed self-driving cars in ideal conditions, such as Tesla's Smart Summon. However, that willingness drops to 20%–35% for autonomous driving at higher speeds and less-than-ideal-conditions. Like the development cycle for AV technologies, consumers are likely to exhibit incremental shifts in attitudes over time, with seeing self-driving cars on the road in daily situations playing a key role in increased trust and comfort.
Manufacturers' biggest challenge is understanding the expectations drivers have for their daily use of AVs and aligning marketing of such vehicles to those needs. Over half of consumers (52%) envision a service-oriented relationship with AVs, categorizing future self-driving vehicles as personal assistants or servants. Consumers over the age of 60 share an even more skeptical and less humanized view of future interactions with an AV-enabled vehicle. By contrast, the highly tech savvy under-30 age group demonstrates a more optimistic and personalized view of its use of AVs, with responses reflecting much higher rates for friendship and guardianship.
"AV manufacturers have not yet captured the imagination of consumers to envision a future with a self-driving car that enhances the driving experience beyond the traditional, functional role of a vehicle," said Paul Hartley, managing director of Escalent's technology group. "It is paramount for AV developers to engage a nuanced and iterative adoption process to build consumer trust, comfort and excitement for AV technology."
Furthermore, a significant percentage of consumers trust and look to big tech developers to win the race to develop fully autonomous vehicles. While a majority of respondents in the United States and Europe expect traditional and specialist automakers to make slow, steady strides in AV development, 27% of Americans predict hardware or software tech firms will be most successful. By comparison, 18% of Europeans surveyed see tech developers as the companies most likely to put AVs on their roads.
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