Although trials for driverless cars on British roads might be just around the corner, it seems the public might not be as in favour of the technological advancement as the UK government appears to be. According to a new poll carried out by car incident camera firm SmartWitness, two in three British motorists believe that driverless cars should not be allowed on public roads before additional checks have been carried out.
Plans announced by business secretary Vince Cable last month indicated that the £10 million trials could start as early as January 2015, with plans to test the vehicles on several roads in three cities, including a number of motorways.
The latest survey, however, shows that the majority of drivers are still not convinced of the safety of these so-called “Robo Cars.” Nearly nine out of ten drivers say they would like to see extra safety measures implemented – such as forward-facing video incident cameras installed on every driverless vehicle – so that it’s clear which vehicle is at fault in the event of an accident.
Almost 80% of those questioned think that there might be liability issues in case of a collision and are worried that resolving insurance disputes would become too complicated when driverless cars are involved.
SmartWitness managing director, Simon Marsh, commented that snags in the technology “could easily be called into question”, which could muddy the waters of what actually occurred. “There will be serious issues surrounding the insurance on driverless cars unless they use incident cameras that provide court admissible data,” Marsh added.
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