Would You Be Courteous to a Driverless Vehicle? Autonomous Cars and Aggressive Drivers Set to Square Off

As a driver, you have likely faced a situation where an aggressive driver cut you off in traffic or failed to yield the right of way. What might an autonomous vehicle (AV) do in the same situation? To answer the question of how an autonomous car might react and how other human drivers would interact with the autonomous vehicles, Goodyear and the London School of Economics conducted a survey. They asked approximately 12,000 drivers how they feel about interacting with autonomous vehicles on the road. The research project which combined focus groups and the results of an online survey sought to examine the complex attitudes that define the public’s view of new automotive technology.

What the study told us

In gauging drivers’ comfort level with autonomous vehicles, the study reported that about 44% of drivers are uncomfortable about the idea of using an AV, and about 41% would feel uncomfortable driving alongside one.

43% of survey respondents believed that most auto accidents are caused by human error, so autonomous vehicles will be safer than cars driven by humans. 37% agree that AVs would be better drivers than humans because they lack emotions. 60% of survey respondents agree that machines do not have the common sense required to interact with human drivers but admit that they do not know enough about driverless cars.

Interestingly, only about 15% of drivers regularly even use cruise control, and 70% agree that humans should always be in control of their vehicles. 80% think autonomous vehicles should have a steering wheel, and 82% of people traveling in an AV would prefer to remain aware of the road. The survey reported that the people more open to autonomous vehicles are those drivers who tend to be more aggressive and combative. They perhaps see AVs as easier to deal with than other human drivers. One survey respondent said, “I’ll be overtaking (the AVs) all the time because they’ll be sticking to the rules, won’t they?”

Aggressive drivers may meet their match in autonomous vehicles

Clearly, some of the more aggressive drivers among the survey participants anticipate that autonomous vehicles will be pushovers. However, Andrew Lee, who is head of marketing intelligence at Octo Telematics (designer of autonomous vehicle Artificial Intelligence), said, “There have been suggestions that the autonomous car could outperform a human driver, as it can drive closer to the limits of the vehicle.” Autonomous vehicles will be able to combine collected information about the manually driven vehicles with contextual information about road and weather conditions, temperature, and time of day and use this information to make split second decisions about how to travel in the most efficient way to its destination.

To put it in lay terms, autonomous vehicles are not likely to be taken advantage of by aggressive human drivers, as they will be equipped to move more efficiently and with fewer risks than human drivers do. An advantage that autonomous vehicles will have over human drivers is that AVs will be connected to the infrastructure, which will allow them to predict traffic lights and other aspects of smart cities as they evolve over time.

At the personal injury law firm of Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we fight for the rights of our clients who have been injured due to the negligence of another throughout West Tennessee. To find out how we can help, you are welcome to call 901-680-9777, or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced auto accident attorney in Memphis or Jackson today.