June 6, 2019—HNTB's latest survey, Sharing the Road with Autonomous Vehicles-2019, found that among those familiar with autonomous vehicles, 58 percent believe they will be commonplace on America's streets and highways within 10 years, reported Yahoo Finance.
In addition, 57 percent of that group are willing to ride in them, and slightly more than half (51 percent) believe they are safer than people-driven vehicles.
The HNTB survey also asked Americans what they would do while riding in an autonomous vehicle instead of driving themselves. Two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) believe they will most likely spend their time looking out the windows of their vehicles. Texting or talking is the next more likely activity according to 42 percent of respondents, followed by watching movies or playing games, 29 percent. Twenty-five percent believe they will sleep.
Only 17 percent of respondents said they would work.
The survey found that among all survey respondents, the single most important benefit of autonomous vehicles was increased mobility for non-drivers (52 percent). Reduced accidents and increased safety were cited by 43 percent of respondents..