* ABATE Illinois press release…

Illinois Residents Demand Safety Reforms Before Embracing Driverless Taxis, Survey Reveals

As driverless taxis are increasingly being introduced in cities and states across the country, for the safety of our members and everyone who shares our roads, ABATE believes it is important we slow down and ensure the right safety regulations are in place before allowing this new technology in our communities in Illinois.

To that end, we surveyed residents in two regions proposed for testing—Cook County and the Metro East (Madison County and St Clair County)—to get their opinions on driverless taxis and some of the safety measures contained in driverless vehicle regulations proposed by ABATE of Illinois in HB4789 & SB3308.

Only 38% of Illinoisans in these counties are favorable towards the idea of driverless taxis sharing the road with them, compared to 50% who are unfavorable towards the idea. Suburban Cook County showed the largest opposition with 61% unfavorable vs 25 % in favor of driverless taxis.

The numbers grew worse after respondents were given four potential common sense safety reforms based on real world issues with Waymo vehicles. After hearing these, respondents are 36% favorable towards driverless taxis, compared to 54% who are unfavorable with Chicago residents & self-identified Republicans showing the greatest growth in opposition.

Another key takeaway is how much stronger opposition grows to driverless taxis the more people hear safety regulations have not yet been put into place. 22% are very unfavorable towards driverless taxis before learning this, while after, 35% are very unfavorable.

Residents strongly support four key reforms contained in legislation proposed by ABATE. First, they support requiring independent testing of driverless taxis before allowing them on the road. 66% support this reform while only 24% oppose it. Support is strong among all demographics, though it is even stronger with Chicago residents.

72% of respondents favored allowing driverless vehicles to be pulled off the road when they present a clear safety hazard with 77% of Chicago and Cook County residents favoring this regulation.

When informed about Waymo’s problems with passing over 20 stopped school buses, residents again strongly support requiring driverless taxis to be pulled off the roads, and favor testing by an independent group before they are allowed back on the road. 73% support the additional required testing after failure and only 21% oppose it.

Residents also show solid support for a 4th reform: allowing cities to regulate driverless taxis and restrict their operation based on complaints and safety problems. Waymo backed legislation does not allow cities to regulate their vehicles even though they behave like taxis. Meanwhile 58% of residents support allowing cities to regulate the operation of driverless taxis while 34% oppose it (net +24%). Chicago residents favor this reform by a 75% to 22% margin.

Based on the results of this survey, ABATE will continue to support common sense safety reforms through HB4789 & SB3308 before allowing driverless taxis in Illinois. Driverless systems have not been independently tested and use technologies that present problems in accurately seeing and avoiding motorcycles on the roadway in addition to other drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. We encourage residents to echo our calls for these reforms so we can ensure Illinois roadways are kept safe for everyone.

Results are here and here.

Methodology…

Results for this survey are based on interviews conducted among a sample of likely voters in Chicago, Suburban Cook County, Madison County and St. Clair County. Data for this survey research was collected by Cor Strategies.

Interviews were conducted via live calling, texting, online panels, and automated calling. The surveys were conducted from Tuesday, January 19 – Friday, January 23. 503 responses were gathered for a margin of sampling error of ±4.37%. The margin of sampling error may be higher for certain subgroups.

This survey was coordinated with XLN Services on behalf of ABATE of Illinois, who paid for all costs associated.

* International Brotherhood of Teamsters with a statewide “online panel” poll of 600 likely voters…

I wanted to reach out about a new poll. It demonstrates that even though autonomous vehicle companies want to expand into Chicago, most Illinois voters would be perfectly happy if driverless cars and trucks turned around and never came back. Specifically, some of the poll findings include that:

Almost two-thirds of voters oppose allowing any driverless vehicles on the road in Illinois.
78 percent of voters oppose allowing driverless heavy trucks on our roads.
A majority of voters said their biggest concern with driverless vehicles was that they will put lives at risk.

N= in Illinois (Online panel)

From the toplines…

Crosstabs are here.