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AAA Survey Finds Autonomous Cars Make Drivers Feel Less Safe

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The 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander driving on the road
The 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander
Photo: Mitsubishi Motors

AAA and Harvard conducted a survey to determine drivers’ thoughts toward self-driving vehicles. They discovered that a significant number of drivers feel less safe knowing that autonomous test cars are on the road.


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What were the results of the survey?

Currently, 38 states along with Washington D.C. allow autonomous test vehicles to drive on public roads. Depending on the vehicle and roadway, the AAA and Harvard survey found that between 43 percent and 53 percent of drivers felt less safe sharing the road with these autonomous test cars.

Just 11 to 13 percent of drivers felt safer with self-driving cars around. The rest of the respondents either didn’t think the self-driving cars would change anything regarding their safety or were unsure what to believe.

The survey also discovered that companies can take a few actions to make people feel more at ease driving by autonomous vehicles. Some respondents want the test cars to have clear markings indicating that they are driverless. Others said they want researchers to only test the cars in designated lanes. Fewer respondents would like researchers to take it one step further by conducting testing solely during designated time slots.

The problem with these solutions is that they may affect testing data. Drivers may behave differently around autonomous vehicles when they’re clearly marked as such. In addition, by only testing them in certain lanes for set time periods, the cars may not experience certain situations like rush-hour traffic. Despite these drawbacks, Michigan will be the first state to have a corridor specifically for self-driving buses.


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The survey also found that 34 percent of drivers support testing on public roads, 36 percent are against it, and the other 30 percent are unsure. In order for autonomous cars to successfully make their way onto the U.S. market, companies will have their work cut out for them to get more support from Americans.