Driverless cars cause concern for British drivers | claims.co.uk ™
 

Driverless cars cause concern for British drivers

Research by claims.co.uk has shown that British drivers are highly uncomfortable about the thought of driverless cars arriving on the country’s roads. The survery, carried out by pollsters YouGov, asked people in Britain ‘how comfortable or uncomfortable do you think you would feel as a passenger in a driverless car?’. Over two-thirds of respondents said they would feel uncomfortable at the prospect, with only 21% saying they would be comfortable.

People are also concerned about how road accidents between driverless cars and other vehicles will be dealt with. More than half of those who took part in the study said they were worried that insurance companies would automatically assume that a human driver was at fault for the accident.

John Quail, managing director of claims.co.uk, said: “Technology can be a great thing if harnessed successfully and many of us already enjoy the benefits of driverless trains, trams and monorails connecting airport terminals, for example.”

“One suspects the advent of driverless cars is going to be fraught with more complex sociological and legal issues. At the moment, the general public look less than enamoured with the advent of driverless cars, and it remains to be seen if the technologists will be able to overcome the public fear factor. The proof of the pudding with all technologies of course, will be in the eating.”

British views on driverless technology

The infographic illustrates how the people of Great Britain feel about driverless technology:

UK Driverless Cars

Raw YouGov survey data

The tables below show the raw data taken from the YouGov survey, in response to the question, ‘Now thinking about driverless cars (i.e. a self-driving/ automated car that operates without a driver)… How comfortable or uncomfortable do you think you would feel as a passenger in a driverless car?’:

  Total
Unweighted base 2028
Base: All GB adults 2028
Very comfortable 6%
Fairly comfortable 15%
Fairly uncomfortable 29%
Very uncomfortable 39%
Don’t know 11%
Net: Comfortable 21%
Net: Uncomfortable 68%
Marital Status
  Married / Civil partnership Living as married Separated / Divorced Widowed Never married
Unweighted base 1036 260 183 65 484
Base: All GB Adults 1026 259 165 60 518
Very comfortable 6% 9% 2% 4% 6%
Fairly comfortable 13% 17% 14% 15% 19%
Fairly uncomfortable 30% 31% 25% 15% 29%
Very uncomfortable 40% 36% 47% 51% 35%
Don’t know 11% 8% 12% 15% 11%
Net: Comfortable 19% 26% 16% 19% 25%
Net: Uncomfortable 70% 67% 72% 66% 64%
Region
  North Midlands East London South England Wales Scotland
Unweighted base 515 313 207 237 464 1736 123 169
Base: All GB adults 499 333 195 260 464 1750 101 176
Very comfortable 5% 7% 7% 4% 7% 6% 5% 9%
Fairly comfortable 13% 14% 19% 16% 16% 15% 9% 15%
Fairly uncomfortable 28% 33% 25% 31% 27% 29% 36% 28%
Very uncomfortable 41% 36% 39% 37% 41% 39% 41% 38%
Don’t know 12% 11% 11% 12% 9% 11% 9% 10%
Net: Comfortable 18% 20% 26% 20% 23% 21% 14% 24%
Net: Uncomfortable 69% 69% 63% 68% 68% 68% 77% 66%
Working Status
  Working full time Working part time All Workers (NET) Full time student Retired Unemployed Not working / Other
Unweighted base 882 267 1149 126 481 92 180
Base: All GB adults 902 245 1146 136 456 104 186
Very comfortable 8% 5% 8% 5% 3% 8% 4%
Fairly comfortable 16% 14% 16% 28% 11% 15% 7%
Fairly uncomfortable 31% 31% 31% 31% 25% 23% 28%
Very uncomfortable 34% 42% 36% 27% 48% 39% 47%
Don’t know 10% 8% 10% 9% 12% 15% 14%
Net: Comfortable 25% 20% 24% 33% 15% 23% 10%
Net: Uncomfortable 65% 72% 67% 58% 73% 62% 76%

 

The tables below show the raw data taken from the YouGov survey, in response to the question, ‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement?’

“I would worry that if I had to make a claim against a driverless car, I would automatically be classed as ‘at fault’ by insurance companies.”

  Total
Unweighted base 1745
Base: All GB adults (with valid driving licence) 1713
Strongly agree 18%
Tend to agree 37%
Tend to disagree 10%
Strongly disagree 2%
Don’t know 32%
Net: Agree 56%
Net: Disagree 12%
Gender
  Male Female
Unweighted base 844 901
Base: All GB adults (with valid driving licence) 847 866
Strongly agree 19% 18%
Tend to agree 37% 38%
Tend to disagree 13% 6%
Strongly disagree 3% 2%
Don’t know 28% 36%
Net: Agree 56% 56%
Net: Disagree 16% 8%
Marital Status
  Married / Civil partnership Living as married Separated / Divorced Widowed Never married
Unweighted base 927 226 155 52 385
Base: All GB Adults (with valid driving licence) 902 222 128 47 414
Strongly agree 20% 19% 14% 25% 15%
Tend to agree 37% 34% 40% 40% 39%
Tend to disagree 9% 14% 5% 9% 12%
Strongly disagree 2% 1% 2% 2% 3%
Don’t know 32% 31% 39% 25% 32%
Net: Agree 57% 53% 54% 64% 53%
Net: Disagree 11% 16% 7% 11% 15%
Working Status
  Working full time Working part time All Workers (NET) Full time student Retired Unemployed Not working / Other
Unweighted base 802 226 1028 104 414 70 129
Base: All GB adults (with valid driving licence) 808 202 1011 117 385 70 131
Strongly agree 20% 11% 19% 14% 20% 11% 20%
Tend to agree 37% 40% 38% 34% 38% 41% 35%
Tend to disagree 10% 8% 9% 20% 8% 4% 12%
Strongly disagree 3% 3% 3% 0% 1% 8% 0%
Don’t know 30% 39% 32% 32% 33% 36% 33%
Net: Agree 58% 51% 56% 48% 58% 51% 55%
Net: Disagree 13% 11% 12% 20% 9% 12% 12%

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