AAA: Most People Don't Trust Autonomous Vehicles

by Chris Teague

Published: March 15th, 2024

aaa most people don t trust autonomous vehicles

Most people in the U.S. are distrustful of autonomous vehicles. That’s the message from AAA’s latest study, which found that a surprising number of people express fear, and many are uncertain about autonomous technology.

AAA found that 66 percent of drivers are afraid of autonomous vehicles, and 25 percent are uncertain about having them on the roads. Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering, said, “There has been an increase in consumer fear over the past few years. Given the numerous and well-publicized incidents involving current vehicle technologies – it’s not surprising that people are apprehensive about their safety.”

Driver attitudes about driverless vehicles have always leaned skeptical, but the number of people expressing fear jumped last year and will remain elevated in 2024. In 2021, 54 percent of people said they were afraid, which grew to 55 percent in 2022. The number spiked to 68 percent in 2023 and fell only slightly heading into 2024.

Though people are skeptical, AAA found that drivers are still interested in driver assistance tech with autonomous features. Most – 65 percent – said they wanted reverse automatic emergency braking, while 63 percent said they wanted forward automatic emergency braking. That said, AAA noted that people generally have too much faith in the systems and believe they’re much more capable than they really are,

AAA also said that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) should give drivers a higher level of awareness instead of tricking them into thinking the car is driving itself. The organization also rightly pointed out that there are no self-driving cars on sale, which is a safety concern when 40 percent of drivers believe they can buy one today.

[Image: Sundry Photography via Shutterstock]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#AAA #AutonomousVehicles

Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

More by Chris Teague

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 16 comments

RHD on Mar 16, 2024

The only reason driverless cars would exist is if there is a way to make money from them. A taxi without a paid taxi driver could be very profitable. Uber would lay off all of their "private contractors".
Considering how badly some cars are driven with a human driver, it would seem logical to many that a car with no driver at all would perform even worse. A robot has no common sense, but some humans also fit this description.

Like Reply
VoGhost on Mar 17, 2024

Did anyone ask the AVs if they trust human drivers?

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- ToolGuy on Mar 18, 2024
  
  Thank you VoGhost for your meaningful contribution.
  
  1
- Paul Alexander on Mar 18, 2024
  
  @ToolGuy Hahaha!
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?
Wjtinfwb Absolutely. But not incredibly high-tech, AWD, mega performance sedans with amazing styling and outrageous price tags. GM needs a new Impala and LeSabre. 6 passenger, comfortable, conservative, dead nuts reliable and inexpensive enough for a family guy making 70k a year or less to be able to afford. Ford should bring back the Fusion, modernized, maybe a bit bigger and give us that Hybrid option again. An updated Taurus, harkening back to the Gen 1 and updated version that easily hold 6, offer a huge trunk, elevated handling and ride and modest power that offers great fuel economy. Like the GM have a version that a working mom can afford. The last decade car makers have focused on building cars that American's want, but eliminated what they need. When a Ford Escape of Chevy Blazer can be optioned up to 50k, you've lost the plot.
Willie If both nations were actually free market economies I would be totally opposed. The US is closer to being one, but China does a lot to prop up the sectors they want to dominate allowing them to sell WAY below cost, functionally dumping their goods in our market to destroy competition. I have seen this in my area recently with shrimp farmed by Chinese comglomerates being sold super cheap to push local producers (who have to live at US prices and obey US laws) out of business.China also has VERY lax safety and environmental laws which reduce costs greatly. It isn't an equal playing field, they don't play fair.
Willie ~300,000 Camrys and ~200,000 Accords say there is still a market. My wife has a Camry and we have no desire for a payment on something that has worse fuel economy.