Month: May 2020

Enlarge (credit: Natalya Burova/Getty Images)

Robotaxis have a real public image problem, according to new survey data collected by an industry group. Partners for Automated Vehicle Education surveyed 1,200 Americans earlier this year and found that 48 percent of Americans say they would "never get in a taxi or ride-share vehicle that was being driven autonomously." And slightly more Americans—20 percent versus 18 percent—think autonomous vehicles will never be safe compared to those who say they'd put their names down on a waiting list to get a ride in an autonomous vehicle.

PAVE says its data doesn't reflect skepticism or fear based on the killing of a pedestrian by one of Uber's autonomous vehicles, nor the series of drivers killed while using Tesla's Autopilot. In fact, those events don't even register with much of the population. Fifty-one percent said they knew nothing at all about the death of Elaine Herzberg in Arizona, and a further 37 percent only knew a little about the Uber death. Similar numbers said they knew nothing at all (49 percent) or very little (38 percent) about Tesla Autopilot deaths. But those who reported knowing a lot about the deaths were more likely to tell the survey they thought autonomous vehicles were safe now.

According to the survey data, getting a ride in a robotaxi might change some of those minds. Three in five said that they'd have more trust in autonomous vehicles if they had a better understanding of how those vehicles worked, and 58 percent said that firsthand experience—i.e. going for a ride in a self-driving car—would make them trust the technology more.

Enlarge / I would totally drop a quarter in whatever this is. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Gamers of Ars, we’ve got a small side quest for you today! Before diving back into your favorite loot‘n’shoot, would you help us demonstrate to the gaming industry—and to the LVL40 bosses at Condé Nast—that Ars Technica is home to a serious gaming community?

Gaming companies love to spend their marketing budgets on “endemic” websites, meaning "games-only" pubs. They think these are where real "gamers" hang out. But we all know that's not the full story; many of these sites just offer ad-spam walkthroughs written for people who wouldn't try solving an Uncharted puzzle on their own. They've got their place, but those are not the only game sites in town.

So we’re asking you to share—totally anonymously!—a bit about your gaming habits by taking the survey below. The idea is to take this—again, totally anonymous!—data to game companies, slap it down on the table and say, “Look, Ars has loads of real gamers, and frankly, they’re more discerning, more influential, and more active than you can imagine.”