AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ARE COMING BUT MOST CONSUMERS ARE NOT YET READY TO EMBRACE THE TECHNOLOGY. SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE INDUSTRY?
Like it or not, we’re well down the road to autonomous cars — although just what “autonomous” means and how soon we’ll get there are questions that may elicit many different answers.
While most of the questions in those regards have centred on technical and regulatory issues, there’s another equally important question that must also be asked: are customers ready for autonomous cars?
The answer to that one may be the most important of all for no matter how capable the vehicles are when they do arrive, they’ll need people to buy them if they are to succeed.
Right now, the jury is still out. In a study conducted in the U.S. last year by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), 88.8 per cent of respondents said they would have some concern about driving or riding in a vehicle with self-driving technology.
That’s even if the vehicle permitted a driver to take over control, if needed. And 26.1 per cent said they’d be “very concerned.”
Amending that question to ask about riding in a fully autonomous vehicle, with no driver controls available, 96.2 per cent expressed concern and 60.1 per cent said they’d be “very concerned.”
When asked what levels of autonomy they would like to see in vehicles, 43.8 per cent chose: “No self-driving. The driver will always be in complete control of all safety functions, but the driver will be assisted with various advanced technologies.”
Women favoured that choice even more than men, with 47.6 per cent choosing “No self-driving.”
Only 15.6 per cent said they’d like vehicles to be “completely autonomous, controlling all safety-critical functions” and even allowing the vehicle to travel without a passenger. So fully autonomous vehicles may not yet be ready for prime time.
But it’s a changing landscape. The respondents to that survey were about evenly represented over the age range from 18 to 59, with only seven per cent being 60 or older — and that group was least receptive of all.
In a separate study among millennials (born between the late eighties and early 2000s), conducted by the research firm Penn Schoen Berland for Ford, more than half (52 per cent) said they’d be “as comfortable or more comfortable” in an autonomous vehicle.
It’s not a surprising result considering that group’s responses to questions about things they fear. More than anything else they fear other drivers, said 88 per cent of respondents. That’s more than they fear spiders and snakes and even death itself!
Among their specific driving fears are: driving in low-visibility situations like bad weather (83 per cent); snowy or icy roads (79 per cent); backing onto a busy street (74 per cent); monitoring blind spots (70 per cent); not knowing where they’re going (69 per cent); parallel parking (67 per cent); and drifting out of their driving lane (56 per cent).
So it’s equally unsurprising that their responses embrace the kinds of driving aids that address those fears and take away some of their more trying driving tasks. Things like blind spot warning, rear-view cameras, park assist, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and more.
While that digital generation may be the most open to the whole concept of autonomy, the good news is that older drivers also seem keen on such technologies — which are in fact stepping stones toward fully self-driving vehicles.
The J.D. Power and Associates (JDPA) 2015 U.S. Tech Choice Study released in April, found the technologies attracting the most consumer attention were those that reduce the overall driving burden and enhance vehicle safety. Sounds a lot like autonomous driving technologies.
The technologies consumers expressed the most interest in having in their next vehicle included blind spot detection and prevention systems, night vision, and enhanced collision mitigation systems.
“These findings demonstrate growing customer acceptance towards the concept of the vehicle taking over critical functions such as braking and steering, which are the foundational building blocks leading to the possibility of fully-autonomous driving,” JPDA concluded.
Perhaps just as important as customers’ acceptance of these technologies is their willingness to pay for it. Across all generations, price is the most important consideration for technology acceptance, accounting for 25.2 per cent of importance, according to the J.D. Power study.
In that respect, Gen Y customers (born 1977-1994) are the least sensitive to price and show a greater willingness to spend on new technologies than other generations, the study determined. They’d be willing to spend an average of $3,703 on technology for their next vehicle, they said.
Gen Xers were next most willing at $3,007, with price sensitivity increasing as buyers aged. Pre-Boomers are willing to spend only $2,416 and Boomers just $2,067.
As it always has, the future depends on the young!
