Australians among the most sceptical about driverless cars: poll

One in six Australians will refrain from using driverless cars once the technology becomes available, according to a new survey.

An Ipsos poll of 28 countries has labelled Australians among the most sceptical of autonomous technology, finding that we’re less optimistic than the international average about its perceived benefits.

Self-driving cars will purportedly deliver motorists greater safety, speed, efficiency, cost, comfort and enjoyment, along with reduced environmental impact.

However, not all Australians agree. The survey of 21,000 people, released this week, ranks us as the sixth lowest out of 28 nations.

Twenty-five per cent of Australian survey participants said they “can’t wait to use” a driverless car, which was five percentage points lower than average.

In addition, 16 per cent of Australians vowed they “would never use” a self-driving car. The reticence was strongest among older demographics; 21 per cent of respondents aged over 50 were against autonomous vehicles compared with eight per cent of respondents aged under 35.

By comparison, nearly half of respondents surveyed in China and India fell into the “can’t wait” group.

Reluctance around self-driving cars arguably centres on the technology still being in its infancy in Australia. Aside from the lack of physical exposure, legislative framework only really surfaced in May last year when the federal government issued national guidelines for self-driving vehicle trials.

This is despite a recent poll that found the tech could prevent half of all road deaths.

If anything, Australians gravitated most towards autonomous parking in the survey, which would do away with scaling multi-storey car parks by foot. Fifty-six per cent of respondents saw advantages in this aspect of self-driving cars.

Ipsos director Jessica Elgood suggested Australians were taking a wait-and-see approach to driverless cars.

“Perhaps the reluctance of Australians to embrace this emerging technology has to do with our nation having a historically strong identity as a car culture,” she said.

Elgood pointed out Australians were more open to the possibilities of this new technology than some other developed economies, including the US, UK, Germany and Japan.

Australians also clung onto the idea of retaining their own vehicle (34 per cent) rather than utilising bourgeoning vehicle sharing services.

The report found many Australians were unsure how to regulate driverless cars “but would prefer government regulation over self-regulation by manufacturers and tech companies – whereas the opposite is true in America”.

Three in 10 people globally say they “can’t wait to use” autonomous vehicles and another 58 per cent are unsure but find the idea intriguing.