A new study from the University of Eastern Finland claims it is the first in the world to examine passengers’ experiences in self-driving cars under winter conditions.
The study explored how passengers felt about self-driving cars in Helsinki, Finland, and in Muonio, Finland, a small town in the region of Lapland. In Helsinki, passengers traveled on a driverless shuttle bus in two test areas. In Muonio, residents traveled with an autonomous car in heavy winter conditions on the main road.
In all, the survey included 141 people and chartered attitudes toward self-driving cars, either positive or negative, and factors that could encourage passengers to use self-driving cars in the future.
Those who had a positive attitude toward self-driving cars were influenced by trust, safety and security. However, passengers were found to be unprepared for the technological errors in self-driving cars even with knowledge the technology is still under development.
The study found that young passengers clearly had more confidence in the safety and security of self-driving cars than older passengers. Winter conditions had no significant impact on people’s attitudes toward self-driving cars and there was also no significant difference between the genders.
"Finns have a pragmatic approach to new technology: if the new mode of transport facilitates everyday life and is affordable, there seems to be no obstacle to it becoming mainstream," said Arto O. Salonen, professor from the University of Eastern Finland.
The full research can be found in the journal ScienceDirect.
