That’s the majority view of a survey by the IEEE association for the advancement of technology, which polled over 200 researchers, academicians, practitioners, university students, society members and government agencies on the future of driverless cars.  

‘We’ve seen incredible growth in the driverless vehicle industry over the past few years, both in technological advancement and manufacturer acceptance, that has dramatically affected the consumer adoption timetable,’ stated IEEE Fellow Alberto Broggi, professor of computer engineering at the University of Parma in Italy and founder of VisLab. ‘The scientific community and car manufacturers have been working together to incrementally include autonomous features in modern day cars, with the intention of producing driverless vehicles in the near future. For mass adoption, it’s important that we begin trusting this technology.’

Respondents also said that advancements in technology will be the most instrumental in the continued development of driverless vehicles, with more than half (56%) believing that sensor technology is most essential, followed by software (48%), Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (47%) and GPS (31%).  

‘A driverless car needs a constant stream of information of the road and its environment to make calculated decisions, which are referred to as perception. Sensors are one of the most important and trusted technologies for advancing perception scenarios,’ stated Christoph Stiller, IEEE member and professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. ‘Sensors are small, non-intrusive and offer reliable data. Also, sensor technology is relatively cheap and will be influential in creating affordable driverless vehicles.’

Along with sensors, creating digital maps of the road is a necessary function for allowing autonomous vehicles to travel safely on the roads. When asked to predict how long it will be before a complete digital map of the world will exist, nearly three quarters (74%) of respondents indicated these maps will be available within the next 15 years.

When asked to rank six possible roadblocks to the mass adoption of driverless cars, legal liability, policymakers and consumer acceptance came out on top while cost, infrastructure, and technology were viewed as smaller obstacles. 

‘Anytime you have a technology that has the potential to fundamentally change our daily lives, laws and policies need to be established to ensure the technology is going to be used properly and benefit humanity. This is especially true with intelligent vehicles,’ stated Yaobin Chen, IEEE Senior Member and professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue School of Engineering and Technology. ‘Once the foundational elements, like legal liability and policy, are in place, the technology and infrastructure will be there, so intelligent vehicles will become more widely accepted.’