Self-driving vehicles, driverless cars, autonomous automobiles and many other names for the phenomenon all generate the same reactions; in general, you’ll see some fearing for the future and some talking optimistically of the future of the industry and transportation at large. Ever since Google brought self-driving cars to the limelight in the tech discussion, there has been controversy. At the end of the day, you’re essentially left with those who accept self-driving cars and those who do not. Canada, it turns out, has a near perfect split between the two, according to research conducted by online car insurance marketplace Kanetix.
With Google’s driverless creations set to be loosed in Ontario’s roads in the very near future, you’d be hard-pressed to find a hotter topic in the tech or auto circles in the local area. With all the controversy brewing, various arguments are coming out of both sides. Some don’t want the driverless revolution to happen because they find driving too fun to give up. Some aren’t terribly confident in the safety of having robot drivers around, a fear that is actually justified to an extent. Others still gush about the transportation revolution that is going to make transport of all sorts and all distances more accessible, allowing those who couldn’t drive before to go places they previously couldn’t and making unowned transportation methods cheaper for those who can. There has even been talk of private car ownership being rendered obsolete by the low cost of unowned self-driving transportation, though it’s highly doubtful that manual automobiles will disappear any time soon.
In any case, not counting those who gave a neutral or wait and see response, the survey group of 1,095 Canadian drivers saw 25 percent of those surveyed ready to see self-driving cars out and about and 23 percent against the coming transport revolution for one reason or another. Statistically, it seems that individuals between 18 and 34 years old are the most likely to welcome our new self-driving overlords, mostly citing safety reasons. 61 percent of that sample believes that drunk driving and speeding will see a decrease and 51 percent believe that there will be fewer accidents as a result.