Consumer acceptance of autonomous vehicles will be facilitated by improvements in technology Consumers will learn to fully trust autonomous technologies over time, but the fundamental question will be whether autonomous vehicles should be allowed to share the road with vehicles driven by people and other road users. How will the society grow to accept autonomous vehicles? Incremental improvement in automation Taking cues from the aviation industry The industry has been introducing driving assistance features over the Consumers have grown to trust past few years. This bodes well for commercial airplanes, even in autonomous technologies. A step-by- autopilot mode. Learning from step approach will help gain consumer the aviation industry will help win trust, assuming they do not have a consumers’ trust. poor experience. 3 1 Humanizing driving Educating and incentivizing Vehicles must be designed to customers mimic aspects of human driving and adapt to personal style. Not Dealers and automakers need everyone drives the same way. to educate and incentivize Mimicking needs to gradually move prospective customers on beyond average driver behavior autonomous features and toward varied driver profiles. technology. 2 4 Heathrow’s personal rapid transit system A step toward an urban mobility network, with autonomous vehicles on the road Concept Regulatory challenges Enablers Advantages • A 3.8km route that links • Stringent regulations • Collaboration among • Reduced emissions — Heathrow Terminal 5 with around design and multiple takeholders — meet Kyoto Protocol a car park; 18 driverless, safety codes airport operators, pod 2050 projections battery-powered pods designers, etc. — to ensure • Reduced wait time for that operate on the route, seamless operation passengers carrying four passengers (and luggage) each Following the success of these driverless pods, they are now being 50% 80% repurposed and brought onto Greenwich’s streets. They will be allowed to navigate the streets independently, and will be used to Reduction in per- Passengers who have record exactly how the public reacts to self-driving vehicles. passenger carbon no wait time (wait time 10 emissions vs. diesel reduced to 10 seconds) 9. “Hands off with Heathrow’s autonomous pod cars”, The BBC, November 2014, buses9 © 2016 BBC 10. Ibid. The evolution of artificial intelligence and the acceptance of autonomous vehicles | 3