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From The Love Bug through to Westworld, movies and TV shows have evolved self-driving vehicles to create unforgettable moments. But consumers remain wary of their real-life counterparts as they start to roll out onto roads around the world.
Vanarama has visualised the 20 most iconic on-screen autonomous vehicles from 1960s to present day in an infographic timeline.
We’re getting closer to traveling from A to B in autonomous cars by the day, with a projected market of $615bn by 2026 (up from $27bn in 2017) including auto manufacturers such as BMW, Audi, Toyota to more disruptive tech-led businesses like Tesla, Google, Uber.
People are fascinated and wary of self-driving vehicles with a 2020 study showing:
• 3 out of 4 people don’t trust self-driving cars
• 20% of respondents think autonomous vehicles will never be safe
• 48% would never get in a taxi or ride-sharing vehicle that was self-driving
A recent study by trend analysts ResearchAndMarkets has predicted that the global autonomous market is likely to reach a value of $615bn by 2026. Their forecast looks at existing valuations from 2017 when the market for self-driving vehicles accounted for $27bn. Put simply, this means that self-driving cars are big business.
However, there’s still a hurdle for autonomous vehicles before they’ll be widely adopted and that’s public opinion.
2020 survey results shared by Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), a partnership of industry bodies and non-profits aiming to improve people’s understanding of self-driving vehicles found that 3 out of 4 Americans don’t trust that the technology is ready for wider use.
They also found that 20% of respondents think autonomous vehicles will never be safe and 48% would never get in a taxi or ride-sharing vehicle that was self-driving.
However, this hasn’t stopped companies like Uber pushing for driverless fleets and modern sci-fi has been taking notice of the potential for a completely autonomous vehicle to pick you up and ferry you from A to B at the tap of a screen. However, this scepticism hasn’t stopped us racing to see the technology on the big screen.