The survey was conducted in response to an IEEE roundtable discussion that analysed the autonomous vehicle industry and hosted experts in consideration to driverless vehicle technology, policy/regulation and law.
20 Oct 2015 | 2391 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
A recent survey by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has released global results indicating a number of challenges in regards to the future of driverless vehicles. Respondents indicated that they wouldn't feel comfortable with driverless vehicles transporting their children, as well as safety and trust in technology ...
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A recent survey by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has released global results indicating a number of challenges in regards to the future of driverless vehicles. Respondents indicated that they wouldn't feel comfortable with driverless vehicles transporting their children, as well as safety and trust in technology being the main barriers to consumer adoption.
The survey was conducted in response to an IEEE roundtable discussion that occurred on August 28, 2015 at the University of Southern California that analysed the autonomous vehicle industry and hosted experts in consideration to driverless vehicle technology, policy/regulation and law.
Here are some details how the participants responded in regards to the safety of driverless vehicles:
- When asked on a scale from 1-5 (1 being not at all comfortable to 5 being very comfortable) regarding their comfort level of having autonomous vehicles pick up/drop off their children, 70.8% of experts and 59.7% of IEEE social media followers noted a 3 or below on the scale.
- The main concern of having driverless vehicles on the road was safety (social media followers – 54%; experts – 63%) and trust in technology (followers – 21%; experts – 16%).
- When considering a standard process for how driverless vehicles hand back control to a human, visual confirmation was the preferred method for both social media followers (26%) and experts (65%). An audio signal accumulated 59% votes among the experts, followed by a verbal command (50%) and haptic simulation (48%).
- When asked to rank several issues from 1-5 (1 being the most important to 5 being the least important) based on what needed to be addressed for driverless vehicles to be considered safe, social media followers and experts listed driverless vehicle technology as an area that needed further growth. Cyber security and privacy were also the main concerns for followers. Meanwhile, experts listed insurance/liability and privacy as concerns.
"We want the technologies to come forth, but the priority is to make sure that the public is safe on the roads," said Bernard Soriano, deputy director for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. "Autonomous vehicles present a myriad of technological and practical issues which need to be addressed moving forward. All of these topics are being discussed with the intention of setting forth regulations in the near future to encourage the continued development of the autonomous vehicle industry, while keeping the motoring public safe."
Respondents further believe that there are other aspects besides technology that need to be addressed, primarily policy, regulation and liability. Around 55% of respondents believe that the car manufacturer must be held responsible in the event of an accident. Meanwhile, around a quarter of the experts believe that policy/regulation is the main barrier to mass adoption of autonomous vehicles.
Despite the safety concerns, respondents do envision a future of utilising autonomous vehicles in their everyday life, indicating that driverless vehicles are only a few years away. Around 60% of social media followers believe that driverless vehicles will be available by 2025, while around 84% of experts set the date to 2030.
"I think that we are absolutely going to be seeing driverless vehicles on the road in the near future, possibly in as little as five years. These vehicles may not be completely autonomous, meaning the driver would be responsible to take control of the vehicle at some point during the ride, but could see full autonomy being reached within a decade," noted Jeffrey Miller, IEEE member and associate professor of engineering practice at the University of Southern California. "Experts from all over the world are contributing to this industry and it will be interesting to see which country is able to offer driverless vehicles first. Environment, regulations and consumer acceptance will be key drivers to its success."