An official website of the United States government.
While Trust in Connect-Automated Vehicles Low, Savings Could be High
Two recent polls conducted by insurance firm Esurance indicate that even though a large percentage of motorists remain uninterested in giving control of the steering wheel over to self-driving or connected and autonomous vehicles – called CAVs for short – the potential saving of doing so could amount to several thousand dollars per year, along with safety benefits that state department of transportation officials feel will boost such savings even further.
“Safety is the most important consideration” regarding the emerging deployment of connected and autonomous vehicles, noted William “Bill” Panos, director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation and chair of the Committee on Transportation System Operations for American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, during Congressional testimony on June 13.
According to Esurance research, in terms of costs savings, the “best-case” scenario whereby a family gives up their car in favor of driverless ridesharing could save them $4,100 in annual transportation costs. Other research cited by the insurance firm indicates that a 20 percent improvement in efficiencies of “personal transportation systems” would generate a 5 percent increase in household incomes, though the “attraction” of saving time and money would depend on where those families reside – cities, suburbs, or rural areas – and their willingness to embrace ridesharing over car ownership.