British automotive site What Car? has just released the results of a new survey on autonomous driving that shows people-at least in the UK-are still wary of the new tech. A total of 45% of respondents said they would feel very uncomfortable with an autonomous car being fully in control of itself. When it came to being behind the wheel of a self-driving car 51% of people said they would feel unsafe or very unsafe. A third of respondents (34%) said they feared that an autonomous car wouldn't be able to avoid an accident.

Most interesting is that 30% of those surveyed said they were scared about losing the enjoyment of driving. We knew there were others out there like us! However, despite all these concerns a whopping 26% of people said they would feel comfortable enough in an autonomous car to take a nap. These results are not overly shocking as autonomous driving tech is still in its infancy. Automakers are bulldozing ahead but may want to hedge just a bit as consumers may not be ready for fully autonomous cars within the next few years. If anything this survey shows that car companies should be investing cash into full lie-flat seats!

If the cars of the future are going to drive themselves then the comfort level of those napping in them should be a priority. Yeah, seats that swivel and can be adjusted to face each other are nice but what people really seem to want is a chance to lie down and doze while caught in traffic or cruising through the countryside. Hell, even hardcore driving purists might not be able to pass up a quick nap during bumper to bumper traffic. After all, a car's handling and acceleration mean little when traffic slows to a crawl.