An autonomous car is capable of fulfilling the transportation capabilities of a traditional car, whilst at the same time being able to sense its environment and navigate without human input. Autonomous vehicles sense their surroundings with techniques such as radar, lidar, GPS, and computer vision.
Despite all this information, UK motorists still seem wary of this new development in technology.
According to findings from a recent study carried out by uSwitch, around half of the British public wouldn’t trust a driverless car to drive safely. Instead they believed that such a vehicle would place the passengers and other road users at higher risk.
Another finding from the study revealed that there was also confusion about other aspects of driverless cars; a large number of motorists aren’t sure who would be held responsible if the autonomous car were to create an accident.
Numerous manufacturers have been researching and developing these cars for some time now, so although it may be a while yet until they outnumber traditional cars, it won’t be long at all until the first few are nestled amongst us on the roads.
Google seem to be ahead of the race in launching the new technology, having recently begun to trial its autonomous cars in Bristol, Coventry, Greenwich and Milton Keynes, hoping the trial will prove a success. To determine that, we’ll have to wait and see!
Of course, to meet their aim of driverless cars being a part of everyday life by 2020, they still have a long way to go in convincing half the British public.