I have been in a driverless car… probably!

While 11.5% of UK adults say they’ve been in an automated vehicle, only 6% actually have

With rival robotaxi fleets now testing in London, self-driving news source Cars Of The Future has partnered with research specialist Quadrangle to provide regular metrics on people’s interactions with automated vehicles. 

In March 2026, they asked 1,000 UK residents: Have you ever ridden in a self-driving vehicle? 11.5% said ‘yes’, 88.5% ‘no’.

A second question asked respondents to clarify where they had experienced self-driving, while a third asked: What did you think of it? 70.5% of respondents were broadly positive about self-driving, 17.5% negative, and 12% had no strong feelings.

A wide range of one word descriptions included: amazing, awesome, boring, convenient, cool, different, efficient, exciting, expensive, fun, gimmick, impressive, innovative, interesting, scary, stressful, stupid, unnerving, unsafe, weird and worrying.

Cars Of The Future editor Neil Kennett said: “Given the limited scale of UK self-driving pilots to date, more than one in ten saying they’ve experienced it seemed very high, hence our follow-up question regarding location. 

“On closer inspection it seems that only half of those who think they’ve experienced self-driving actually have, usually in robotaxis in America, although one person mentioned the award-winning CAVForth bus trial in Edinburgh.

“Alarmingly, over 50 respondents referred to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), with many mentioning Tesla. This highlights a growing threat to road safety: misunderstanding or deliberately exceeding a vehicle’s capabilities.

“When using ADAS – Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keeping Assist and Parking Assistance – the driver must still pay contant attention. The importance of clearly differentiating between ADAS and self-driving cannot be overstated.”

Fergus Mcvey, client director at Quadrangle, added: “We are delighted to partner with Cars Of The Future to add these important new questions to this fifth wave of our ongoing Attitudes To Mobility survey. We have an immense amount of data on opinions about autonomous driving across all key UK demographics, which we are happy to share with interested parties.

“It certainly isn’t as simple as young people love it and boomers hate it. In fact, Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, are generally not as enthusiastic about self-driving as many people expect.”
Carsofthefuture.co.uk