The Trust In America’s Driverless Car Future, Visualized

Only one in every four Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center thought autonomous aka driverless vehicles were a good idea. Fourty-four percent of respondents said that driverless cars were a “bad idea for society.”

Pew recently shed more light on their survey and shared the difference of opinion between Americans over 50 and younger Americans about driverless cars.

Self-driving cars, once promised as the future, are now being critiqued with greater scrutiny. Analysts believe that cracking the self-driving code will give companies “an opportunity to be wildly profitable.” The industry has also seen enormous investment, to the tune of $100 billion. But stories of failure (like plunging shares and slashed valuations) now prompt regular critique and reviews (including Consumer Reports’ video below).

Key Takeaways

• Almost every third American adult is still uncertain about the impact that driverless passenger vehicles will have on society.
• Nineteen percent of American adults aged 50 and up think driverless passenger vehicles will be good for society, whereas among the younger cohort, aged 18-49, that number jumps to 33 percent.
• Younger Americans are more convinced than their older neighbors that the number of traffic fatalities and injuries will go down when driverless passenger vehicles become mainstream.
• Older people seem to be more lenient about having 18-wheeler autonomous trucks and are a little bit more opposed to the idea of driverless delivery vehicles.

Source: digg.com