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SAN DIEGO - Public confidence in self-driving cars remains low, in both the ability to navigate around our cities and in the impact they will have on driving and delivery jobs, a report released Thursday by UC San Diego researchers found.
The study, accepted for publication in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, analyzed responses from 4,631 U.S. adults in the national Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel. It revealed a 'complex landscape of economic apprehensions that could impede widespread AV adoption if left unaddressed,' a UCSD statement read.Around 85% of those polled believed driverless cars such as Waymo would lead to job losses. Slightly more than 46% said the widespread use of the technology would increase the income gap between higher- and lower-income Americans --compared with about 6% who thought it would decrease income gaps. More than 62% said they 'probably or definitely' would not want to ride in a driverless vehicle, the researchers found.'Driverless cars are often framed as an engineering challenge, but it's also a profound sociotechnical transition,' said Behram Wali, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the UCSD School of Social Sciences. 'This study develops a new behavioral framework to reveal a critical tension: how Americans willingness to embrace driverless cars is directly tied to their fears of job loss and income inequality.'These findings show many Americans are evaluating automated vehicles as a broader social and economic change -- not just whether the technology works, but who benefits and who bears the costs.'The study posits that public trust is shaped not only by technical concerns of AI operating a multi-ton vehicle around other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, but about larger consequences economically and socially.According to the research, groups that were 'more aware of automated vehicles, used the internet more frequently, or had higher levels of education and income' were more willing to ride in driverless cars yet were also more likely to believe the technology could worsen income inequality and disrupt jobs.Contrarily, lower-income respondents and people living in rural and non-metropolitan areas were less inclined to adopt driverless cars but still expressed strong concern about negative economic impacts.If driverless vehicle companies want to gain public trust, Wali said there should be a broader 'socio-technical' approach which pairs technological development with 'proactive policy strategies that address economic anxieties and equity concerns,' the UCSD statement read.'While conventional strategies such as increasing awareness and tech- savviness are helpful and necessary to boost AV acceptance, this study shows that such strategies alone cannot address the fundamental employment and economic concerns,' Wali said. 'We cannot afford a laissez-faire approach to AV regulation. Policymakers must ensure that underrepresented groups are not left behind.'The question now is not if, but when the United States will see widespread use of the technology.'This study proposes critical policy interventions, including workforce protection through reskilling and upskilling initiatives, expanded social safety nets and programs to ensure equitable access across the geographic and social fabric of the nation,' Wali said.Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
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