Residents in Pennsylvania are “somewhat” or “very uncomfortable” with the idea of sharing the road with “highly automated, driverless vehicles,” a recent poll shows.
The results of the New York-based bipartisan polling firm RABA Research were released on Thursday, September 8th, just a few months after the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow autonomous vehicle companies to test their cars on public roads without a human driver present in case of emergency. The bill is scheduled to be considered by the Pennsylvania Senate this fall, reported the Post-Gazette.
Only 38% of respondents said they were comfortable sharing the road with driverless small cars, and only 17% felt OK about sharing it with autonomous trucks. The poll also found that Pennsylvanians believe autonomous vehicles are a threat to jobs.
RABA’s survey results come from interviews collected among 679 Pennsylvania residents in late August and early September.