Do you want a self-driving car?

Less than a third of UK motorists would choose a driverless car, according to a new survey.

Most British motorists prefer to keep their current car, rather than have a self-driving car – with safety being the main reason for concern.

With car manufacturers and companies like Google currently hard at work on perfecting self-driving cars, the survey suggests they have a lot of work to do to convince motorists of their safety.

The survey, conducted by insurance experts Bobatoo.co.uk, polled 911 UK motorists and found that only a quarter (25.8%) of them are ‘excited’ about the prospect of self-driving cars taking to UK roads.

The majority of respondents are either ‘not bothered’ or ‘concerned’ about driverless cars, and for those that are concerned the main issue is over safety.

Many respondents feel that they can’t trust self-driving cars to keep them safe, with the risk of malfunction a common concern.

One respondent managed to sum up the feelings of those who are concerned about self-driving cars, saying: “Given how often computers go wrong I am concerned that something controlling a car (which is a lethal weapon) could go wrong. I’d want to know how they plan to have it fail safely.”

This concern means that less than a third of UK motorists would choose a self-driving car over their current car.

Just 27.7% answered that they would prefer to have a driverless car. Almost half of UK drivers (48%) said they definitely would not choose a self-driving car over their current car, and the remaining 24.3% are still not sure.