GUEST BLOG: 85% Say No To Driverless Cars

Road pals, We Buy Any Car muse over the latest thinking from people on driverless cars in this guest blog post, based on a recent survey from their customer database.

Survey headlines:

1. The survey has uncovered 45% of Brits said they would need the technology to have been tested on the road for a few years before they could commit to purchasing a driverless car.
2. A further 85% of car lovers said that they enjoy manual driving and felt proud obtaining their licence – something that they would think twice about sacrificing for the new tech.
3. 61% agree that self-drive cars will solve congestion and improve journey times.
4. Younger drivers are more likely to adopt the new technology.

Once seen as a futuristic, dreamed up invention, driverless cars are fast becoming a reality for British car owners. The question is - are we ready?

When it comes to whether Brits would choose to buy a driverless car when they become available, opinion is truly divided, with 45 per cent saying they would need to be on the road for a few years before they make their decision.

85 per cent of car lovers said that they enjoy manual driving and felt proud obtaining their licence - something that they would think twice about sacrificing for the new tech. It seems the thought of giving up a drivers licence is quite a large consideration when asking whether to buy or not to buy.

There is, however, a lot of benefit to be had from the arrival of autonomous vehicles. Automated traffic flow has been hailed as the solution to the UK's road network congestion, and 61 per cent agree that driverless vehicles will solve congestion or improve journey times.

Four in ten people believe that removing human emotion on the road will reduce road rage once driverless cars are introduced, however, 52 per cent don't believe that autonomous vehicles will improve their driving experience.

Richard Evans, Head of Technical Services at Webuyanycar.com, said: "Autonomous vehicles are an exciting development within technology and motoring. Perhaps due to the ambiguity around how the final models will look and work, public opinion is uncertain. More knowledge of how the vehicles will be rolled out, their cost, and how owners can sell them on when it's time to trade up will help the general public make a conclusion."

Evans added; "We're hearing that driverless cars are set to be the next piece of tech to change the world, but ultimately it's motorists who will make that decision and at present it seems that opinion is divided across the country."

Traffic-loathing Londoners are the most trusting of the new technology, with 15 per cent believing that the developers know their stuff. An additional 10 per cent would trade their manual car for an autonomous vehicle – the highest percentage across any region in the UK, proving that perhaps driving is most stressful in the capital.

On the contrary, road-lovers in the North East are the least trusting with three quarters having no faith in the safety of the new invention. Almost 45 per cent of Scots think driverless cars look weird.

Phoen-obsssed youth are more likely to embrace the out-of-the-ordinary appearance of autonomous vehicles, with 12 per cent of 18-24 year olds stating that they looked great or OK, in comparison with just 6 per cent of those aged between 45 and 54, who enjoy the thrill of driving.

So with all the hype around this next new innovation, we have to wonder whether driverless cars will be the next minidisc non-starter, or the next revolutionary iPhone?

Time will tell...