Interest In Driverless Cars Is Huge Says New Global Survey

Research by the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group has revealed strong interest and acceptance of the concept of driverless cars around the world.

Interestingly, the developing world is more engaged with the concept than petrol-addicted west, with Indian consumers (85 per cent) and China’s consumers (75 percent) the most open minded about the idea.

Germans and Japanese, who coincidentally build a lot of cars, were less enamoured, as this chart from business intelligence site Statista attests.

Consumer attitudes to driverless cars Source: Statista

The objective of the study (and we are sure no pun was intended ) was to “Develop a road map for a real-world pilot of urban mobility.”

Among the insights the researchers gleaned from their work;

1. Many consumers are very open to trying and buying a self-driving car
2. The key reason for this is not having to park a self-driving car
3. Consumers want a traditional OEM to produce the self-driving car
4. Many are willing to pay more than $5K extra for a self-driving car
5. To consumers, a self-driving car is electric or hybrid
6. They are slightly more reluctant to share a self-driving taxi, but will do it at a high discount
7. Cities expect self-driving vehicles to become a reality in the next 10 years
8. Key impediments to them are public acceptance and technological readiness
9. SDVs primarily seen as last mile solution complementing public transport
10. They prefer having many private players offering self-driving taxis

(Source: World Economic Forum; BCG analysis, consumer survey August 2015, city policy maker interviews 2015)

In its report Statista notes; “Interestingly, while 58 per cent of global respondents stated they would try a driverless car, only 35 percent would let their children ride alone in one.”