Imagine that you’d just hailed a taxi or used your Smart Phone to request an Uber or Lyft ride, and when the car pulled up you discovered that it was a Self-Driving Car with no human at the wheel. How do you imagine you’d react?

We asked this question to the respondents in the Center’s Future of Transportation study.

Overall, 11% said that they would get in. Twenty-seven percent said that they’d have to think about it, but they would probably get in. Thirty-nine percent said that they would not get in. And 22% said that they were not sure, they would need to learn more about self-driving cars.

Who was most likely to say that, when presented with this situation, they would get in?  How are these views affected by gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and political orientation?

Men (16%) were more likely to say that they would get in than women (7%).

Nineteen percent of 35-44 year olds said that they would get in. This compares to 16% of those in the 14-17 year old group, 15% of those aged 18-24, 13% for 25-34 year olds, 10% for those aged 45-54, 8% for the 55-64 year olds, and only 4% for those aged 65 and above.

Latinos (15%) and Asians (14%) were more likely to say that they would get in than whites (12%) and blacks (9%).

Those in the West (14%) and the South (13%) were more likely to give it a go than were those in the Midwest (10%) and the Northeast (8%).

And liberals (14%) were more likely than conservatives (11%) and middle-of-the-roaders (10%), to say that they would get onboard.

 

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January 13, 2019