COVID-19 Fails To Move Needle On Consumers’ Disdain For Self-Driving Vehicles

The COVID-19 pandemic and the business disruptions that have followed it have changed a lot of things for virtually everyone, but one thing they haven’t changed is the American public’s obvious disinterest in self-driving vehicles. Carmakers continue to develop self-driving systems and some safety experts continue to tout their potential for saving lives, but the public as a whole expresses very limited interest in buying cars with the technology. At the same time, experts in the field think the timeframe for seeing self-driving vehicles in service in North America is getting farther off, not closer, in the wake of the coronavirus.

Given the near-panic caused by the pandemic and the onerous and sometimes Orwellian reaction to it, the public might be expected to start to embrace a technology that promises to limit human-to-human contact and promote social distancing. For example, getting in a rideshare vehicle that drives itself eliminates close proximity with a human driver. But the just-released J.D. Power 2020 Q3 Mobility Confidence Index Study fueled by SurveyMonkey suggests quite clearly that American consumers don’t really see it that way. The Self-Driving Index slipped to 34 in the third quarter of this year from an already dismal 35, the mark recorded in Q1, the last time the survey was fielded. The index is presented on a 100-point scale with 100 being most favorable and 0 least favorable.

In various use-cases for self-driving vehicles, none registered a gain in the most recent quarter, not even “comfort with goods being transported in a self-driving commercial vehicle.” Asked about riding in a self-driving vehicle, being on the road with them, and seeing them used for public transport, the public’s responses all dipped below their previous unenthusiastic marks with indices of 32, 34, and 34, respectively.

In their verbatim comments about self-driving technology captured by the survey, American consumers were not shy about expressing their concerns and disapproval.

“We haven’t even perfected car performance and sustained duration,” one consumer wrote. “Why should we place a vehicle that drives itself that can be hacked, malfunction, or lacks emotion and good judgment to drive on any roadway where people are? And why would we take away those jobs of those who this concept compromises when we can’t even get regular vehicles right?”

Another respondent voiced security concerns.

“Technology that is used in a manner where our enforcement can use the built-in surveillance, in return we lose more privacy,” the consumer said.

Echoing and perhaps reflecting the consumers’ skepticism and disinterest in self-driving vehicles, the J.D. Power Expert Panel of Contributors expanded the predicted arrival of various aspects of the technology into the marketplace. In the Q3 results, the panel predicted public availability of self-driving vehicles for purchase would be in 9.7 years versus 9.4 years previously. 9.7 years was also the experts’ prediction for the availability of self-driving vehicles for ride-hailing and taxi service, up from 9.3 years, while self-driving for public transit availability was predicted to be in 10.2 years. Self-driving for delivery services was predicted by the experts to arrive in 8.7 years, up from 8.3 years in the first quarter of the year.

The experts had similar rationales for their predictions, most citing the economic hardship carmakers have undergone in the wake of the pandemic and the commensurate slowing of research and development.

“The COVID-19 situation has limited the OEMs’ ability and desire to invest in self-driving technology,” one panelist wrote.

Another agreed, opining, “I believe COVID-19 has pushed out investment and deployment [in self-driving technology] by at least 3+ years.”

In addition to sheer short-term economics, the experts also identified the lack of consumer trust and acceptance of the technology as the key stumbling block to it becoming a mainstream staple.

“With so many more people working from home or making shorter commutes, this is an opportunity to further tout the benefits of … self-driving technologies,” said Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & human machine interface research at J.D. Power. “However, consumers remain skeptical because of their lack of firsthand experience with these technologies and lack of education about how and why these technologies work. Until auto manufacturers can rectify this, adoption will continue to be an uphill battle.”

J.D. Power and SurveyMonkey conducted the study in which nearly 9,000 consumers and industry experts gave their opinions about self-driving vehicles. The survey was fielded last month.