• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 16, 2019

Developers of self-driving vehicles face an uphill battle.

While billions of dollars are pouring into the development of self-driving vehicles, consumers still don’t trust the technologies.

On a 100-point scale, consumers have a self-driving vehicle confidence level score of 36, according to the latest quarterly study comprising a survey of 5,000 consumers conducted by J.D. Power.

The lowest scores among self-driving attributes are comfort riding in a self-driving vehicle and comfort with self-driving public transit.

Things are not getting any better over time, since this is the same score as the previous quarter.

Part of the reason is likely the lack of knowledge, with more than two-thirds (68%) of consumers saying they have little to no knowledge about self-driving vehicle technology.

More than half of consumers said they are unlikely to ever purchase or lease a self-driving vehicle.

More than a third (38%) of consumers remain unexcited about any self-driving technology.

The biggest hurdle to get over is the trust factor.

Most (71%) consumers are most worried about tech failures and errors -- and that’s a big hill to climb.