While the progress of self-driving technology made a lot of positive headlines over the past few years, the past three months haven’t exactly been great for autonomous vehicles. In July, a driver of a Tesla car was killed in an accident while the Autopilot system was engaged, calling the viability of the car’s accident-avoidance system into question. Earlier this week, Chinese researchers claimed to have successfully hacked into a Tesla Model S, gaining remote control over several electronic features of the car, including the brakes.
While Tesla was quick to release a security patch fixing the loophole the researchers had exploited, the countless reports on the incident were a PR disaster for Tesla and self-driving technology nonetheless. As our chart illustrates, both incidents confirm the many reservations people still have against self-driving cars. According to a recent report, published by The Boston Consulting Group, 58 percent of the consumers surveyed across 10 countries would take a ride in a fully autonomous vehicle. 23 percent of the respondents don’t see themselves cease control to their vehicle though. And incidents like this week’s won’t help to convince them otherwise.
This chart shows some of the main concerns that consumers have with respect to self-driving cars.
