New National Poll Shows Americans Increasingly Comfortable Riding in Autonomous Vehicles

WASHINGTON – The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association today shared the results of a new national survey of 8,000 American adults conducted by Stack Data Strategy that found Americans are becoming more comfortable with using an autonomous vehicle. Further, the data highlights 35 Congressional districts across the country where more people report being comfortable with autonomous vehicles than those who are not comfortable.

“Americans are experiencing autonomous vehicles for themselves and finding that the technology is safer than human driving, gives independence to people who cannot drive, and strengthens the supply chains our economy depends on," said Jeff Farrah, CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association. "With thousands of Americans dying in preventable road crashes every year, it is incumbent on policymakers to take action. Autonomous vehicles provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address this crisis, and the public increasingly understands the opportunity of AVs. Congress must establish a federal framework that allows autonomous vehicles to deploy nationwide, and states must pass deployment laws so their residents can take advantage of the technology.”

Nationwide, more than 36 percent of adults say they would feel comfortable using an AV for daily travel, up from 29 percent earlier this year. The pace at which comfortability with autonomous vehicles is increasing is unusual for public attitudes on any technology, and the district-level results show where that change is furthest along.

The ten most comfortable districts in the country

1. NY-10 (Lower Manhattan) - Representative Dan Goldman (D): +18.3 net comfort with AVs
2. Washington, DC (at-large) - Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D): +17.3 net comfort with AVs
3. NY-12 (Manhattan East Side) - Representative Jerry Nadler (D): +15.4 net comfort with AVs
4. NY-07 (Brooklyn/Queens) - Representative Nydia Velázquez (D): +14.7 net comfort with AVs
5. TX-37 (Austin) - Representative Lloyd Doggett (D): +14.4 net comfort with AVs
6. CA-11 (San Francisco) - Representative Nancy Pelosi (D): +13.6 net comfort with AVs
7. CO-01 (Denver) - Representative Diana DeGette (D): +11.5 net comfort with AVs
8. VA-08 (Arlington/Alexandria) - Representative Don Beyer (D): +11.1 net comfort with AVs
9. MA-07 (Boston) - Representative Ayanna Pressley (D): +10.9 net comfort with AVs
10. WA-07 (Seattle) - Representative Pramila Jayapal (D): +9.6 net comfort with AVs

Where comfort is growing fastest

The survey also asked whether respondents had become more or less comfortable with riding in an AV compared with two years ago. The districts reporting the largest net movement toward comfort:

1. NY-12 (Manhattan East Side) - Representative Jerry Nadler (D): +29.0
2. CA-11 (San Francisco) - Representative Nancy Pelosi (D): +28.4
3. NY-10 (Lower Manhattan) - Representative Dan Goldman (D): +27.9
4. TX-37 (Austin) - Representative Lloyd Doggett (D): +27.9
5. CO-01 (Denver) - Representative Diana DeGette (D): +27.7
6. WA-07 (Seattle) - Representative Pramila Jayapal (D): +25.0

Congressional district level results are produced using MRP-modeling. This technique models demographic and geographic patterns in public opinion from national-level polling and uses these models to estimate opinion within each district.

Read more about the poll in AVIA’s latest blog post.

About the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA):

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association's mission is to advocate for American leadership in the safe and timely deployment of autonomous driving technology. AVIA is the unified voice of the diverse companies advancing safe and trusted autonomous vehicles. AVIA believes that autonomous vehicles increase road safety, strengthen supply chains, expand economic opportunity, and improve mobility for all.