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Mark Hinchliffe·
Motorbike news
··6 Comments·1 min read

Young motorists support autonomous vehicles

Hipsters motorists want self-driving vehicles novice child leasing money

More than half of Generation Z future motorists under 17 believe that autonomous self-driving vehicles will make the roads safer.

This comes as Yamaha has announced it wants to have a self-riding motorcycle available for sale in the next decade.

Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools’ Day joke – we don’t do them.

These statistics come from the 2016 Cox Automotive Gen Z Automotive Study by American company Ipsos who surveyed more than 3000 US residents aged 12-65. Gen Z account for almost a quarter of the population.

While many current motorcyclists have negative comments about autonomous bikes and self-driving vehicles, the next generation of riders and drivers seem more positive.

Hipster motorists want self-driving vehicles
Do young riders want autonomous vehicles?

More than half (54%) of Gen Z respondents found fully self-driving vehicles appealing and 47% want most cars to drive themselves in the next 10 years, the survey found.

While there was no mention in the study of motorcycles, Gen Z seems open to the idea of autonomous vehicles.

Their main motivation for supporting the development of autonomous vehicles is safety with 61% saying they would be safer.

Hipster motorists want self-driving vehicles

Almost half (45%) claim autonomous vehicles would ease concerns about distracted drivers, while 41% think these vehicles would lead to fewer accidents on the road.

Despite being tech-savvy, 65% are still suspicious of autonomous technology and 41% say autonomous vehicles would not drive as well as people.

What do you think of autonomous motorcycles and other vehicles? Will they make our roads safer? Leave your comments in the “Leave a reply” section below.

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6 Comments

  1. Ah, the gen Z.
    Much like tinted (“privacy”) glass, anything that makes it easier for them to screw around on their smartphones while on the road is seen as a good thing.

  2. One thing I have noticed about car drivers is that when it rains they get even dumber.
    A driver who would require a gold inlayed invitation from God to pull out at an intersection will when it rains pullout in front of a truck with less distance I would consider safe in the dry.
    So if they could come up with a big hammer that whacks the stupid out of them and then takes over I’d be all for it.

  3. I’ll be first in line to buy Yamaha’s self-riding Motobot if it rides to work for me, does an 8hr shift and then rides home again. While its doing that, I’ll take my old non-autonomous motorbike out to the hills and we’ll meet back at home at the end of every day!

  4. It is surprising that there are not a lot more comments on this article. Is it because people don’t want to face up to the truth? The ever increasing use of electronics on motorcycles will eventually bring about the end of motorcycling as we know it. Every so-called “rider aid” is actually a device that takes some control away from the rider, with the ultimate outcome being that riders will have no control at all – the fully autonomous motorcycle.

    I really like the idea of autonomous cars. Driving a car is just a chore. It is something you do to get somewhere. Riding motorbikes is fun, but only if you control the bike yourself, so I definitely don’t want autonomous motorcycles. Autonomous vehicles should be much safer because they eliminate human error which is the cause of most accidents. But the whole system will only work properly if non-autonomous vehicles are banned, which is what they are predicting will happen. This means that motorcycles will either become autonomous or be banned.

    The upside of this is that with me now no longer being a “young fella” I probably will be too old to ride by the time it all happens. By then I will be happy to sit in my fully autonomous car while it safely takes me where I want to go, at an age when I wouldn’t be capable of driving anyway. Nobody is sure what the future will be like but one thing is certain. It will be very different.

    1. The first models to be legalised will be called the lemmings especially if they use google maps.

  5. Bring it! I’ve been in so many close calls because of inattentive car drivers. In my area (Marrickville) the council publishes stats on motorcycle injuries and most have a car driver at fault. I very much look forward to the day when robots take people places they want to go, and the only people left driving manually on our roads are actually interested in driving and doing it for the joy of the thing No more dazed human autopilots at 3pm and again at 6. Just cars with lightning fast reaction times, able to stop on a dime to avoid hitting me, always aware of their surroundings, always buffering a sensible amount, and the occasional passionate motorist and rider, doing what they love, with all their attention on it.

    There’s been no technological developments to inspire fear. Nobody is taking away our freedom or control. There is no great conspiracy afoot. Autonomous cars will simply give those who would rather do something else, a way to do it without endangering us all. Less congestion, less risk, and with the spreading of Uber and carshare systems, less parking pressure in cities and less resource waste with unused cars through the day.

    Now I don’t know about you guys, but personally, driving defensively and watching every movement around me on a highway among a cluster of sleepy wageslaves autopiloting home and not bothering with proper indication, illegally overtaking me in my lane, or drifting out of theirs, is not the fun part of motorcycling. Good riddance to the road zombies.

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