48% Are Skeptical About Safety of Driverless Cars
Nevada this week became the first state to authorize the testing of driverless cars on its roads, streets and highways, but, perhaps not surprisingly, a sizable number of Americans question the safety of this new technology. Very few anticipate owning such a car in the next 10 years.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of American Adults believe it is at least somewhat likely that these so-called autonomous cars will be able to operate safely on roads and highways, but 48% disagree and think they won’t be safe. This includes 17% who think it’s Very Likely and 13% who say it’s Not At All Likely. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The survey of 1,000 Americans nationwide was conducted on May 9-10, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.