NEW DELHI — There is widespread interest about autonomous vehicles in India, Malaysia, China and South Korea, according to a survey by IPSOS in selected countries.

The IPSOS study done about the perception of autonomous vehicles in various countries concludes that people are curious though hesitant about self driving cars. According to the poll results, 58 per cent global respondents reported their curiosity but 13 per cent respondents said they would never use it.  30 per cent reported their excitement.

India, which records the maximum number of road deaths across the globe, has the most number of people excited about self-driving cars. While one in every 10 road deaths is reported from India and 1,46,377 road deaths were recorded in the year 2017 itself, 49 per cent respondents from India said they were intrigued by the idea of self-driving cars.

Other countries like Malaysia, China, South Korea are also excited by the prospects of not having to drive a vehicle manually. While 48 per cent Malaysians and 46 per cent Chinese are excited to use self -driving cars, 38 per cent South Korean respondents showed interest in autonomous driving vehicles.

Besides these, Saudi Arabia (35 per cent), Argentina (35 per cent), South Africa (34 per cent) and Russia (33 per cent) are the countries where self-driving cars also seem to have a lot of enthusiasts.

Self-driving cars seems to be popular as many people believe that they will make driving easier, more comfortable, and relaxing. 

On the other hand, Canadians are among the most sceptical about autonomous vehicles. Just 18 per cent Canadians showed interest in self driving cars. British (19 per cent), German (19 per cent), Serbian (19 per cent) respondents also share the least excitement about self-driving cars.

Only 24 per cent French and Japanese respondents feel positive about autonomous vehicles, as also 22 per cent American respondents.

Various studies have reported that the use of autonomous cars could help cities in reducing emissions, achieving greater safety, more available parking and more reliable transportation among other benefits. Others however report that autonomous vehicles don’t bode well for transportation market as they are threat to the transportation market by cutting the jobs of vehicle drivers. — DataLEADS/ANN