Commentary
What People Would Do While In A Self-Driving Car
- by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 12, 2017
One of the promises of self-driving cars is the potential of new forms of marketing to the people in those cars.
Even though self-driving cars are a work in progress, researchers nonetheless are searching for what drivers expect they would do should they find themselves in a self-driving car.
One survey by Morning Consult earlier this year found that the majority of consumers say talking on the phone would be acceptable while watching TV or reading would not, as I wrote about here at the time (Self-Driving Cars: 23% Would Ride In One, 83% Concerned About Tech Glitches).
A new study now suggests that drivers have plenty of ideas on what they might do in a self-driving car, though many have a range of concerns.
If the commute suddenly became free time because of self-driving cars, most people would catch up on their reading, call friends or family by phone or get work done, based on a survey of 2,000 drivers from around the world conducted by the Auto Insurance Center.
With an average commute time of 26 minutes each way, the Auto Insurance Center points out that other activities, such as taking the kids to school or going to the grocery store, would add even more to the total time spent in cars.
While more than a third (36%) of U.S. drivers would still watch the road if their car was self-driving, the other group noted what they would likely do in that car. Here, in order, are what drivers said they would be most likely to do while in a self-driving car:
- Read a book
- Catch up with friends and family via phone
- Get work done outside the office
- Watch a television show
- Watch a movie
- Eat
- Play video games
- Sleep
- Engage in sexual activity
- Pray
- Play a card game
- Exercise
- Drink alcohol
- Online dating
- Do drugs
A number of drivers, 23% in the U.S. and U.K., 33% in Japan and 3% in China, said they would not ride in a self-driving car. Many drivers still have concerns about autonomous cars, most notably about giving up control of the car. Here’s what drivers said they would be most afraid of while riding in a self-driving car:
- 42% -- Not having control of the car
- 35% -- Getting in a car accident with another vehicle
- 13% -- Hitting a pedestrian
- 10% -- How the car handles weather conditions
Self-driving cars continue to be developed and road-tested. Others in the market are starting to consider what the activity and ultimately messaging will be most logical for the people in those cars.
Still to be determined is who those people might be.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.
Needless to say, having sex is always downplayed or denied by respondents in such surveys but is actually more likely than some of the activities that were given precedence. If I were nuts enough to ride in a "driverless car"---and I'm not, thank you-----I'd be checking on my health insurance via my smartphone or tablet to make absolutely certain that my policy was up to date. I'd also monitor the location of the closest hospitals as my car chugs on its way and tweet my exact location to them every few minutes as we go merrily along---just in case.
As you might have guessed, those options were not given in the survey, Ed.
Our first reaction should be to: "One of the promises of self-driving cars is the potential of new forms of marketing to the people in those cars."
This has NEVER worked out well. I started teaching advertising at the U in 2001. And every year saw a few hundred papers about ad industry - most of which were about claims of new places to advertise...
Bathrooom stalls, airplane seat backs, gas pumps, subway tunnels, etc... all were desperate attempts to create hype about a new media potential. And all came with some theory that intruding was good.
well... 15 years later what's clear is that none of those panned out strongly. The last gas pump ads I saw were the worst of DRTV hack ads.
This is a "wait, what?" Moment for us all. The survey is interesting. But this idea is dead from the start because it's a reason manufacturers want to foist self driving cars onto consumers. That's a full stop, dead end idea.
That may end up being the case, Doug, but that doesn't mean efforts won't be made, supporting your point about those other failed attempts. In the case of the Internet of Things, advertisng or messaging will have to be less intrusive and more 'passive.'
I see people already doing most of this list while driving.
Notice the 15 are pretty much self indulging, self serving and self satisfaction. Nothing about doing anything meaningful to help someone (with 10 being a possible exception)
If the main propoment is trapping people for advertising, Doug is correct.
I would NEVER own one or RIDE in one. These cars are a hackers wet dream.
The latest research shows these are years away at any kind of scale, so no worries for the foreseeable future, Mark.
I'd rather have a computer controlled car coming at me than a teenage driver using Facebook Live!
It's no joke. In NNJ a car load of kids was killed as the driver was streaming the speedometer hitting 107mph.
Safety is the real promise of self-driven autos.
Point well taken, Randall. Safety actually is one of the major attributes used by advocates.