Autonomous vehicles might be hailed as the next great frontier, with Waymo and Tesla ' s Full Self-Driving( FSD) pushing hard to enter the Australian market, but national sentiment towards vehicles that do the work for you is far from enthusiastic.

According to Savvy, a financial brokerage and comparison website that conducts market research surveys, the number of drivers with doubts about taking their hands off the wheel has grown from 47 per cent to 63 per cent since 2023.

“ As the technology advances, it should be allaying the general public’ s fears, but we’ re seeing the opposite happening right now," Savvy Managing Director Bill Tsouvalas said.

“ Services like Waymo and manufacturers like Tesla, which are pushing hard towards selfdriving cars, need to do more to build confidence in them, because public sentiment is heading in the wrong direction.”

The results come against the backdrop of a report from Reuters, in which former Tesla employees voiced concerns about the Tesla FSD function’ s ability to keep road users safe and avoid traffic hazards, including children.

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