AAA survey finds fear of self-driving cars on the rise

traffic-safe131675
traffic-safe131675

A survey from AAA finds 68% of drivers are afraid of riding in a self-driving vehicle. AAA spokesperson Adrienne Woodland tells us that’s up from 55% in 2022, and the largest increase since 2020.

“Concerns about self-driving cars are significantly higher than they were when we did the survey last year,” Woodland said. “We didn’t expect such a dramatic shift in consumer concerns from previous years.”

Woodland says actual self-driving cars do not exist.

“What we found with our survey was that nearly one in ten drivers believe they can buy a vehicle that drives itself while they sleep, and that is not true.”

Woodland says recent high-profile crashes involving cars with some driver assist features may be contributing to the fear of such technology. AAA believes it’s important to educate drivers about the usefulness of assistance technology while making sure they know they cannot rely only on technology when behind the wheel.