Assessing the Public Opinion on Autonomous Vehicles in Malaysia

Public perception is an important measuring tool to determine a country's readiness to adopt the Autonomous Vehicle (AV). However, depending on the respondents' locality, the perception of a new technology will normally vary; hence it is important to evaluate the response of individuals from a specific background. This paper will focus on the Malaysian populace and assess their opinions on the AV or self-driving car. A Google online survey was carried out to discover the opinions of Malaysians on this matter. The finding suggests that the general public does have a positive opinion on AV. A majority of them would trust the technology to safely drive them to their destination. However, when presented with three different safety-related situations, the results showed a high number of respondents were very concerned with the probable outcomes. Finally, respondents were open to the idea of the disabled operating an AV but were apprehensive by the thought that youngsters/non-drivers could mishandle the technology.