How consumers view robots ahead of Tesla's 'We, Robot' event: Study

Ahead of the Tesla Robotaxi unveiling event on Thursday, one company released data suggesting that early consumer experience with driverless ride-hailing platforms has been generally positive.

On Tuesday, J.D. Power shared the results of its 2024 U.S. Robotaxi Experience study, which found that consumers, on average, rated their driverless ride-hailing experiences an 8.53 out of 10. In its second year, the study surveyed 3,773 participants along with 773 consumers who lived in Cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas, where robotaxi services are already available.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, consumer confidence in robotaxis was much higher among those with prior experience with an autonomous vehicle, at 76%, and well above 20% for those with no experience. Consumer confidence has also improved through the public's exposure to the technology, with 34% of those who have not ridden in a car but seen self-driving vehicles expressing some level of trust and acceptance.

Notably, these results suggest that sheer experience with robotaxi platforms — whether riding inside them or seeing them on the street — tends to give consumers greater overall confidence in these self-driving solutions. These results also come as the market for driverless ride-hailing services continues to grow, as Tesla and other companies prepare their commercial offerings for robotaxis.

The study included five categories, including comfort and convenience, initiating trips, taking a particular vehicle ride, service availability and cost, as well as overall vehicle technology. Responses to the survey were sent in August.

What's great about FSD Supervised is that it works anywhere in the US and Canada.

There are no high definition maps, no geofencing.

This means you can use it even in places where Tesla has never traveled before

– Tesla Artificial Intelligence (@Tesla_AI) October 4, 2024

Key findings also included that consumers regularly look for safety features and ease of access to authorities, such as the inclusion of an emergency button in robotaxis. Service area coverage and cost remain a barrier for some consumers who have not yet tried services, with the vast majority of companies using a mapping strategy for specific service areas.

“The robo-taxi industry is still anyone's game, since most people are not familiar with robo-taxi signs and have not formed a clear associative image,” said Kathleen Rizk, senior director of UX measurement and technology at JD Power.

Other key findings include that consumers highly appreciate how well vehicles pass traffic laws, and how well they perform when maneuvering in normal traffic. Additionally, 77% of rides said they would prefer a driverless robotaxi to sharing a ride with a human driver when they need to have a private conversation.

You can view the full results of J.D. Power's 2024 Robotaxi Trial Study on the company's website here.

Currently, driverless ride-hailing services and testing are operated by Google-owned Waymo, May Mobility, Zoox, and Motional. Meanwhile, General Motors' (GM) subsidiary Cruise was forced to halt self-driving operations last fall after an accident with a pedestrian, though it is currently aiming to relaunch services by the end of this year.

Although Tesla offers supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) to customers, it does not currently have the software available to consumers as a driverless transportation system. However, the company is widely expected to unveil a ride-hailing service during its “We, Robot” event on Thursday, and has already teased a mobile app platform.

The company's supervised FSD software, which is eventually expected to become unsupervised as Tesla aims for cars to become safer than human drivers, is also one of the only self-driving software in existence that doesn't use zone mapping. For this reason, Tesla has touted its ability to expand FSD beyond specific service areas, especially when combined with continuous training of its AI neural network with real-time driving footage.

A camouflage prototype of the Tesla Robotaxi seen at Warner Bros. Burbank

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How consumers view robots ahead of Tesla's 'We, Robot' event: Study