Over three-quarters of Brits ‘comfortable’ with driverless cars

Following uSwitch’s discovery that one in two adults do not trust driverless cars, a global survey from the world’s largest vehicle management group, LeasePlan, paints a different picture.

Those questioned in the UK were the fourth most comfortable with being a passenger in a driverless car (78 per cent) after Denmark (83 per cent), the Netherlands (83 per cent) and Germany (81 per cent). 16 per cent of UK respondents were completely fine with being a passenger and 62 per cent said they would feel nervous but still try it. Greece saw the lowest amount of respondents willing to try, with just 51 per cent saying they would feel comfortable.

The data, collected between 22nd June and 27th July 2015, was gleaned from 3,859 respondents across Europe, Australia, the USA and India. Overall, 57 per cent of those surveyed would try being a passenger in a driverless vehicle, despite feeling slightly nervous. A further 14 per cent, predominantly male, would have absolutely no problem at all.

Lesley Slater, Business Development Director, LeasePlan UK commented: “It’s encouraging to see that in comparison to the global average, we (UK) are more likely to embrace this technology. With plans in place to test bed in Greenwich, London and other projects being given the green light in Coventry and Bristol this new technology, which was once seen as futuristic, is now looking a little nearer reality.”