PUBLIC OPINION ON SELF-DRIVING CARS

Where does the public stand on the acceptance of self-driving cars? In light of several notorious accidents caused by autonomous vehicles, things seems to be moving backwards. From a new study by Cox Automotive, here are some numbers:
– Consumers view self-driving cars as less safe compared to a similar survey conducted two years ago. Currently 49 percent of respondents said they would never own a fully-autonomous car. Two years ago, 30 percent said they would never buy one.
– A majority of people (63 percent) believed in 2016 that roadways would be safer if all vehicles were fully autonomous. That number has dropped to 45 percent.
– Acceptance is strongest among millennials, 61 percent of whom wouldn’t rule out buying a fully autonomous vehicle.
– A whopping 71 percent of Baby Boomers said they wouldn’t buy one, more than any other generation.
– Overall, people would feel more uncomfortable riding in an AV driven by a computer (68 percent) than hitching a ride with a stranger (39 percent).
* How about hitching a ride with a stranger in a self-driving car?
* Wait – we would have to BUY self-driving cars? I thought they drove around by themselves, and people would just get in and get out?
* Congratulations, engineers. People haven’t been this afraid of technology since the exploding Samsung Galaxy phones.
* Self-driving cars are like the Kardashians. No one asked for them, no one wanted them, one day they just got dumped on us.
* This is just a giant evil plan to give us more time to look at billboards.
* You can just put your autonomous car on that back shelf, right next to the 3-D TV, thank you very much.
* Now GET GOING ON THOSE HOVERBOARDS, DAMMIT!