The technological advance represented by autonomous vehicles is promising; however, it is not unanimous among us. Distrust remains.
Autonomous cars are one of the promises of the decade regarding mobility on four wheels. Despite the difficulty of integrating this technology into everyday vehicles, many manufacturers want to take this route. Lane keeping, blind spot detectors, adaptive cruise control: all these features have progressed enormously in recent years. Despite everything, the autonomous car, the real one, which drives itself from point A to point B does not win the trust of French motorists.
Technological progress versus reality
Although we have been promised for many years that, soon, our cars would drive us without intervention on our part, the reality is quite different. While some brands are already very advanced in the field of autonomous driving (Ford or Tesla, for example), the evolution of this technology has been slowed down. Recent waves of component shortages and the electric transition initiated by manufacturers have required colossal adjustments and investments. The plan to see autonomous cars circulating in cities by 2020 has aborted. The recent Cruise fiasco in San Francisco clearly demonstrates this gap between theoretical progress and realities on the ground.
However, Dekra (world leader in technical inspection) presented a report on road safety which clearly highlights the potential positive impact of vehicle autonomy. Thanks to modern safety equipment, the number of accidents has dropped significantly. From 2001 to 2020, road deaths in the EU fell by 64%. A number which today remains stable.
Public perception and trust
OpinionWay carried out a survey for Dekra in October 2023 among 1,008 French men and women over 18 years old. This reveals that 89% of those questioned believe that the autonomous vehicle will one day arrive. For 41% of them, this will happen within the next ten years. An observation mainly shared among residents of urban areas and the youngest.
However, it appears that 75% of French people do not have confidence in these vehicles; in this portion, women represented three-quarters of those interviewed and we can note an over-representation of people over 50 years old. A distrust which is mainly explained by reservations about the effectiveness of autonomous vehicles in terms of safety. Another question related to cybersecurity, and 83% of respondents perceived these vehicles as vulnerable to potential computer attacks.
A rather revealing survey, which indicates that technical progress is not worth much if it is not supported by awareness-raising initiatives. To take advantage of a technology, you must first understand it and trust it. If self-driving cars are ever adopted, it will not happen without aligning technical advances with the concerns of those affected.
Source : BFMTV
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