SurveyMonkey and JD Power have partnered to showcase how agile research can be leveraged to unlock insights from new customer segments. Utilizing data collected on SurveyMonkey Audience, today marks the launch of the inaugural JD Power Mobility Confidence Index, which evaluates consumer confidence and readiness for advances in transportation, specifically around self-driving and battery-electric vehicles.
This first release of data suggests that consumers’ readiness for self-driving vehicles and battery-electric vehicles is relatively low to neutral. The mobility confidence index for self-driving vehicles is 36, which indicates that consumers’ confidence around this technology is low (the index is graded on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 to 40 being low, 41 to 60 being neutral, and 61 to 100 being positive). The score for battery-electric vehicles sits slightly higher at 55. Both results indicate that manufacturers have more to learn in order to understand where consumers are in their comprehension and acceptance of new mobility technologies. With billions of dollars being spent in this market, agile research is where companies competing in this industry can get an edge.
Additional insights from the data include:
- Self-driving vehicles: Many consumers hold a variety concerns about self-driving vehicles with 71 percent worried about tech failures, 57 percent concerned about the vehicle being hacked, and 55 percent sharing anxieties about legal liability in the event of a collision. Younger generations, however, are more hopeful and less concerned about these potential outcomes.
- Electric vehicles: Over half (61 percent) find these vehicles to be better for the environment, and nearly half (48 percent) believe the cost of charging compared to gas vehicles is a plus, but while many acknowledge the benefits, there are worries charging availability (64 percent) and battery life (59 percent) that factor in as downsides.
Will consumers’ sentiment about self-driving vehicles inflate over time or will they tire of new and evolving technologies? Will consumers feel energized by advances in electric vehicle charging capabilities? Check back quarterly to find out.
Methodology: These data are from a SurveyMonkey online poll conducted among adults ages 16 and older in the United States. Respondents were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States age 18 and over. The survey was conducted June 24th-July 2, 2019 among 5,270 adults answering questions on electric vehicles and 5,749 answering questions about self-driving vehicles. The modeled error estimate for both samples is +/- 2 percentage points.
