Obstacles to the arrival of the autonomous car: user trust
You sit comfortably in the seat of your shiny new and, with a simple touch on the screen, ask it to take you straight home. You recline the seat and get ready to enjoy the journey, fully confident that you will get home safely and relax after a hard day.
Interesting, isn't it?
Well, this future could be at risk because of consumers' distrust of the technologies that would make it possible. So at a time when most of the population should want to enjoy a scene like the one we have described, we have to ask ourselves what is happening that this is not the case.
Why has trust fallen?
Consider this figure: according to a survey published in early 2023 by Auto Club Group, one of the members of the AAA (American Automobile Association), which has more than 60 million members in the US and Canada, consumer distrust of autonomous driving technologies rose from 55% to 68% in one year.
This rise is mainly due to growing user concerns about this type of vehicle. Many of them fear that autonomous vehicles could fail and cause accidents, which is somewhat logical, especially given news over the past year in which some vehicles with driving assistance were involved in several accidents.
A brief aside before continuing.
It is worth mentioning that in several of these cases the problem was misuse of the technology, since many users believe that today's vehicles are capable of driving completely autonomously. Even so, the impact this news has on general trust is quite negative.
That is why car brands play a key role in building consumer trust. The use of confusing terminology when describing their driver assistance systems with names such as Autopilot, ProPILOT or Pilot Assist has created an incorrect image of what these driver assistance systems can do.
Those names have led many users to rely too heavily on the potential of these features, with very reckless behaviour such as no longer actively paying attention to the state of the road. As a result, the risk of accidents rises sharply, especially when driving conditions are not ideal.
In the end, misreading the scope of these features can create dissatisfaction and put consumers off buying vehicles with advanced technology, which could delay the development of safer and more efficient technologies in the future.
Reasons to increase consumer trust in autonomous driving
It is important that we work to increase users' trust in driver assistance technologies, since they have the potential to improve road safety, reduce the number of road accidents and, ultimately, save lives.
However, for consumers to trust these technologies, they need to feel safe and be well informed about how they work and what their limits are. So, at this point, we have to ask how we can achieve that.
Minimising human error in driving
Driver assistance systems can be a great help in preventing drivers from making mistakes, such as lane keeping, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking, among others.
It is therefore important to explain all these benefits to the consumer, showing use cases in which they can see how to take advantage of them.
Clear and detailed information on how driver assistance technologies work
Yes, these are technologies that help improve road safety, but we must not forget that it is essential for car brands to provide clear and detailed information on how their driver assistance systems work, including their limits and conditions of use.
This way, drivers will be able to better understand what the systems can do and use them more safely and effectively, and so have realistic expectations of what they can expect from these technologies.
Learning from the network
By capturing the vast amount of data that can arise during unexpected driving events, we can process it in aggregate, achieving accelerated learning for all the vehicles in the same fleet.
This learning would lead to fewer accidents and therefore increase consumer trust in driver assistance systems.
In addition, the data obtained from the sensors and cameras installed in autonomous vehicles can be used to improve road safety even further, especially when we connect them to the network of smart devices in a smart city.
Rigorous testing and certification
Driver assistance systems need to be tested and certified by independent, globally recognised bodies to ensure their quality and reliability.
It would also be important to show all the tests that brands have carried out before launching their systems on the market, to avoid failures and guarantee users' safety.
In short, the aim is to provide a guarantee that these systems have been tested in real conditions and evaluated by independent experts, meeting the most demanding safety standards.
Consumer training
Finally, we must make an effort to broaden and improve training in the use of driver assistance systems.
As we are seeing, it is essential that drivers are aware that these technologies are not infallible and that they should not expect fully autonomous driving. We would therefore need to start thinking about how we could provide suitable, dynamic training so that drivers learn to use these features effectively and safely.
Technology is constantly evolving, so we need to keep updating ourselves in order to use these tools effectively and get the most out of what they allow at any given time.
In this respect, the traditional method of getting a driving licence is becoming obsolete, so we must find new ways to teach users how to use the new features that are constantly being added to vehicles. Since these innovations will probably arrive quietly through software updates, it would be a pity to make mistakes because we do not know how to take proper advantage of them.
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