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Americans Still Fear Self-Driving Cars

The passengers who may soon be asked to pay for driverless rides and deliveries remain wary of the new technology.

relates to Americans Still Fear Self-Driving Cars — Illustration: Steph Davidson

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March 14, 2019, 4:01 AM UTC

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Seven in 10 Americans don’t want to go anywhere near self-driving cars.

The portion of Americans who fear autonomous vehicles—71 percent in the American Automobile Association’s latest survey—is virtually unchanged from a year ago and up eight percentage points from 2017. While public skepticism isn’t new, its consistency is noteworthy. Last year’s survey, in which 73 percent expressed anxiety about self-driving cars, came out just nine weeks after an autonomous test vehicle operated by Uber Technologies Inc. killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.