Many Consumers Expect Traditional OEMs, Not Technology Companies, to Develop Self-Driving Vehicles - Seite 2

Many Consumers Are Ready to Pay More for the Comfort of a Fully Self-Driving Vehicle

Nearly 60% of consumers said that they are willing to travel in a vehicle that is fully autonomous. They cite the convenience of parking assistance and an increase in productivity while traveling as the top two reasons for their desire for such cars.

Earlier research by BCG found that US consumers are willing to buy SDVs. In this survey, 53% of global consumers said that they would purchase a fully autonomous car, proving that they are as excited and eager to test SDVs as US consumers are.

Consumers are also willing to pay a premium for self-driving features and convenience: across all the countries surveyed, more than 40% of respondents said that they would be willing to pay a premium, with more than half of them willing to pay more than $5,000 for fully autonomous features.

Policy Makers in Cities Believe That SDVs Will Become a Reality Within Ten Years

Most policy makers in cities who were interviewed expect that SDVs will become a reality within the next ten years. A number of SDV-related initiatives and pilots are currently in the pipeline in major cities worldwide. These programs are designed to analyze how SDVs will impact consumers and cities and to examine what the future of urban mobility will look like when SDVs are included.

"These survey results provide valuable insight for understanding the necessary design of new urban-mobility models based on self-driving vehicles," said Alex Mitchell, the head of automotive industry at the World Economic Forum. "While urban policy makers would like to see SDVs serve as a last-mile solution in less densely populated areas, consumers imagine a highly convenient end-to-end type of mobility."

Concerns About Safety, Reliability, and Lack of Control Must Be Addressed

Though acceptance of SDVs is high, consumers still have serious concerns about safety and reliability. Of the respondents unwilling to take a ride in a fully self-driving car, 51% voiced concerns about feeling unsafe in an SDV, and 45% said that a lack of control was a major barrier for them. These concerns include both the inability to interfere with the car while it was in operation and a perceived risk of cyberattacks.