A study by DG Cities has looked to discovered how the UK’s first multi-city autonomous vehicle trial effected people’s attitude to self-driving cars.
Over the past two years, the Project Endeavour consortium has delivered CAV trials in Oxford, Birmingham and Greenwich, London. Participants gave feedback on a 20-minute drive in the CAV, with DG Cities also completing online surveys.
The findings, published in a recent report Creating Safe Self-Driving Services, Findings from Project Endeavour, highlighted that safety remained a key concern.
Those who took part in the trial were confident even before riding in the CAV. Before the live trial 68.3% agreed that CAVs would be safer than human driven vehicles, while after the trial 83.6% agreed – an improvement of 15 points.
In the nationwide survey only 26.8% of participants would feel confident using a CAV tomorrow if it were possible to do so, but over half would not (55.1%) and the remainder are undecided (18.1%).
It also found that age was a factor with over a third (34.8%) of respondents aged 18-35 ‘would feel confident using an CAV tomorrow, while only a fifth (20.5%) of people aged 55 and above agreed.
Ed Houghton, head of research and service design, DG Cities, said: “Our work with the public shows just how vital open technology trials are to informing people, developing knowledge and building trust. Project Endeavour has given us many insights – it became clear that very few people understand how autonomous vehicles make decisions, or have considered their safety or potential benefits.
“Our research shows that as the technology evolves, technology developers, researchers and government will need to outline why the technology matters, how it works, and it importantly what it might mean for people in the future. It’s the only way to build wider acceptance – and I’m pleased to see government-led initiatives doing just that.”
