Artificial Intelligence to take the Steering Wheel
6 out of 10 German citizens are in favour of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to power self-driving cars
Large majority approves of the use of AI for better traffic management
Berlin, 9 February 2018 – Whether optimised navigation or the deployment of autonomous vehicles on our streets: A majority of Germans approves of artificial intelligence to regulate road traffic and prevent accidents, with 58 per cent in favour. Especially younger demographics show high levels of support for the use of AI. Among 14 to 29 year-olds, approval reaches 65 per cent. Older strata of the population are slightly more hesitant, with 54 per cent of over 65 year-olds believing AI to be beneficial for traffic management. These are results of a representative survey conducted on behalf of Germany’s Digital Association Bitkom. “Artificial Intelligence is a key technology that will fundamentally reshape our economy and our everyday life. Especially for the mobility sector, AI systems offer extraordinary opportunities to shorten trip durations, prevent accidents and to reduce pollution of our environment.” says Bitkom President Achim Berg.
An overwhelming majority of 89 per cent of Germans believe AI systems should be used to find optimal routes, evade traffic jams, and to warn ahead of accidents. 86 per cent believe that AI can optimise traffic signal systems and regulate the use of traffic lanes to prevent traffic jams in cities. In a similar vein, 86 per cent agree that AI may be used to avoid empty runs of lorries, as supply and demand could be governed more efficiently.
Regarding methodology: The results are based on a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of Bitkom. 1008 German citizens from the age of 14 onwards were surveyed telephonically. The survey is representative. The question was: “Please rate the use of artificial intelligence for the following applications from useful, mostly useful, less useful, or not useful at all.”
