J.D. Power Study Finds Younger Drivers More Likely to Trust Autonomous Cars

Human error is the cause of 93 per cent of all car accidents. Nevertheless, we human beings still find it difficult to accept the idea of autonomous cars. A recent study by J.D. Power recently found that younger people are more likely to yield control to autonomous cars. Younger people belonging to the so-called “Generation Y” expressed greater readiness to trust fully autonomous vehicles when polled as part of a 2016 US Tech Choice Study than people belonging to older generations. As many as 56 percent of millennials were open to the idea while 55 percent of Gen Z’ers (those who are born in the mid-1990s or after) felt the same. About 7,900 people participated in the survey which was conducted in February and March of 2016 among people who bought or leased a new vehicle in the past five years.

While 41 percent of Generation X customers trust autonomous tech, this figure dropped sharply when it came to previous generations. Only 23 and 18 percent of the Baby Boomers and Pre-Boomer generation were interested in driving autonomous cars. 39 percent of Baby Boomers expressed distrust in self-driving technology, while this was true for 40 percent of Pre-Boomers (born between 1930 and 1945). In sharp contrast, only 11 percent of Generation Z, 27 percent of Gen X and 18 percent of Gen Y drivers disapproved of self-driving cars.

Commenting on the results of the study, Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & HMI research at J.D. Power said that the level of trust is linked directly to the level of interest in a new technology among automobile buyers. Generally, acceptance of new technologies increase with exposure over time and experience with these technologies. But in the event that there are excessive number of incidents with automated vehicles, this trust is fragile and can be broken.

Though customers have mixed feelings about autonomous vehicles, they are very keen of associated technologies like night vision, lane change assist, smart headlights, traffic jam assist and radar functions.