Vast majority say they would travel in driverless cars but fear having to talk to each other in shared journeys
The vast majority of people would be willing to travel in a driverless car but remain hesitant over the prospect of autonomous car shares, research has revealed.
Fears known only too well by Tube commuters, such as an unwelcome need to talk to others and not being able to sit far away enough from troublesome passengers, emerged as a sticking point among those surveyed by government-backed consortium Merge, which is is led by groups including Addison Lee, Ford and research lab TRL.
The survey drew 324 responses and highlighted that while more than eight out of ten respondents were willing to use autonomously controlled vehicles, focus-group participants were more hesitant about autonomous vehicle car shares, with just 46 per cent saying they were comfortable with this option.
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The report highlighted ways to soothe concerns, such as larger windows, an emergency call button and the installation of an “authority figure” to oversee the journey.
There were also concerns that autonomous vehicles lacked the “safety in numbers” of public transport and did not stop frequently enough.
Merge Greenwich project manager and mobility lead at Addison Lee Catherine Hutt said: “Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionise the way we move around cities. It’s great that people are so comfortable with AV but clearly there are concerns about the etiquette of ride-sharing, which may be particularly acute in British culture. As highlighted in today’s report, this is something we’ll need to address carefully in designing future transport services.
The report highlighted possible ways to soothe passengers’ concerns, such as larger windows, an “emergency call button” which makes the vehicle light up and stop its journey, having a steward on board as an “authority figure”, and an app to monitor journeys in real-time.
Hi-tech transport services could be introduced as early as 2021 in parts of London to help people travel the first and last mile between their homes and public transport hubs.
Last year the government awarded four projects a total of £51m in funding to create the environments needed to test connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technology.
The estimate is that driverless cars are set to hit the UK’s streets by 2019.
Merge research in 2017 found that ride-sharing in alternatively fuelled vehicles could serve up to one in seven of all trips within London within eight years, equivalent to 2.5m trips per day. It could also make up to 25 per cent of the total transport market by value, or £3.5bn.
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