July 28, 2014 (Foster City, CA) – Results of a new survey from Insurance.com, the car insurance comparison-shopping website, find most Americans are comfortable with the idea of cars that can drive themselves.
More than three-quarters of 2,000 licensed drivers surveyed said they would be very likely to buy or at least consider buying a car with autonomous capabilities. When the possibility of much cheaper car insurance as a result of improved safety was introduced, consideration rose to 86 percent.
“People are aware that they already drive cars controlled partly by computers,” said Insurance.com Managing Editor Des Toups. “Now they see features like collision avoidance on new models and hear about Google cars hitting the roads in a couple of years. An autonomous car is not science fiction anymore.”
Only 24.5 percent said they would never consider an autonomous car – and even that figure dropped to 13.7 percent if they could get cheaper car insurance.
Nearly a third of respondents – 31.7 percent -- said they would not continue to drive once an autonomous car was available instead.
“Spend time in traffic anywhere and it’s clear many people would rather be doing something else,” Toups said.
Yet the trust in technology is not solid, the survey found. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they would not trust a driverless car to take their children to school, and 61 percent said they believe a computer is incapable of the same decision-making behind the wheel that a human is.
Given a choice between hitting a pedestrian and hitting another vehicle head-on, for example, 79 percent of drivers said they would want their autonomous car programmed to hit the other vehicle.
“We still don’t know how autonomous cars will communicate, who’ll be liable for failures, or how they’ll mix with old-fashioned cars,” Toups said. “But we’re already well down this road.”
Drivers agree. Seventy-three percent said they don’t think the cars of model year 2040 will operate in ways familiar to the drivers of 2014.
For complete survey results see https://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/claims/autonomous-cars-self-driving.html
Methodology
Insurance.com commissioned an online-panel survey of 2,000 licensed adult drivers, half men and half women, in June 2014.
About Insurance.com
Insurance.com, based in Foster City, Calif., is an online resource where consumers can compare side-by-side, real-time auto insurance quotes from multiple insurance carriers. Since its inception in 2001, Insurance.com has delivered nearly 11 million quotes to consumers – who, in less than 10 minutes, fill out one form and save an average of $540 annually – making it one of the largest independent insurance marketplaces in the U.S. Participants include some of the biggest names in auto insurance, including Progressive, Esurance, The Hartford, Travelers and 21st Century. Experts from Insurance.com are available for interviews on all issues pertaining to auto insurance.
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About QuinStreet Inc.
Insurance.com is owned and operated by QuinStreet Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), one of the largest Internet marketing and media companies in the world. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with information they need to research, find and select the products, services and brands that best meet their needs.
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