CARS.COM - Younger car owners are ready to make the move into autonomous cars, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2016 U.S. Tech Choice Study.
Related: What Makes an Autonomous Car?
When it comes to trusting self-driving technology, millennial car owners rank the highest in J.D. Power's study with 56 percent. Generation Z car owners are a close second at 55 percent, though it should be noted that only a portion of this generation, who were born between 1995-2015, are eligible for a driver's license.
The percentages decline as the generations age: 41 percent of Generation X car owners say they'd trust autonomous tech, baby boomers ring in at 23 percent and pre-boomers come in at 18 percent. The study is based on an online survey of more than 7,900 people who bought or leased a new car in the last five years. The survey was conducted in February and March 2016.
"This level of trust is directly linked to the level of interest in a new technology among automobile buyers," said Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction and HMI research at J.D. Power, in a statement. "Acceptance can be increased with exposure over time and experience with automated technologies."
The study also found that 27 percent of Generation X, 18 percent of millennials and 11 percent of Generation Z respondents "definitely would not" trust autonomous technology. That number increased to 39 percent for baby boomers and 40 percent for pre-boomers.
While we're years away from self-driving cars, the technology - sensors, radar, light detection and cameras - is part of today's vehicles. J.D. Power found that smart headlights, night vision, lane change assist, traffic jam assist and predictive vehicle control are among the autonomous vehicle building blocks that appeal to today's shoppers.
One thing the generations agreed upon in the study are concerns about protecting privacy and the potential for these systems to be hacked or hijacked - or even for the systems or car to crash.
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