According to the results of a global survey released by technology advocacy organization IEEE, there are a number of challenges that need to be breached in the sector of driverless vehicles is there is any hope of widespread adoption and social acceptance. The survey polled members of the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems society, as well as IEEE's social media communities.
Respondents to the survey indicated that they wouldn't feel comfortable with driverless vehicles transporting their children, and that safety and trust in technology are the main barriers to consumer adoption.
After all, there is no technology that works 100% of the time, but when you’re talking about a two-ton piece of motorized metal, there is no room for error. None whatsoever.
When asked on a scale of 1-5 (1 being not at all comfortable to 5 being very comfortable) regarding their comfort level of having autonomous vehicles pick up/drop off their children, 70.8% of experts and 59.7% of IEEE social media followers noted a 3 or below on the scale; and when asked what their main concern was in having driverless vehicles on the road, IEEE social media followers (54.3%) and experts (62.6%) indicated that safety and trust in technology were the primary issues.
In terms of how autonomous vehicles will reach the market, IEEE social media followers (86.7%) and experts (92.2%) overwhelmingly believe a continued, gradual inclusion of driverless technologies will be the proposed process, as opposed to car manufacturers immediately adopting these technologies for implementation and sale.
