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Aggressive Motorists See Self-Driving Cars as Easy Prey
A poll of drivers in 11 European countries finds them wary of self-driving cars and split about the technology’s impact on driving manners, the Financial Times reports.
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A poll of drivers in 11 European countries finds them wary of self-driving cars and split about the technology’s impact on driving manners, the Financial Times reports.
Aggressive drivers say it will be easy to “bully” autonomous vehicles—which are programmed to drive carefully and never speed—into yielding the right-of-way. Other motorists believe the good example set by robotic cars will improve the road manners of human drivers.
The study was conducted by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the London School of Economics. The poll questioned 12,000 drivers in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.
About 40% of the participating motorists described themselves as uncomfortable driving near a robotically piloted car. About 60% agree that machine-controlled cars “don’t have the common sense needed to interact with human drivers,” especially regarding such unspoken courtesies as allowing another car to merge.