Fear of robot rides rises following high-profile roadway deaths

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 27, 2017 an Uber self-driving car drives down 5th Street on March 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. The race to perfect robot cars continues despite fears kindled by the death of a woman hit by a self-driving Uber vehicle while pushing a bicycle across an Arizona street. Uber put a temporary halt to its self-driving car program in the US after the fatal accident this month near Phoenix, where several other companies including Google-owned Waymo are testing such technology. / AFP PHOTO / Getty Images North America / JUSTIN SULLIVAN / With AFP Story by Ian TIMBERLAKE: US-lifestyle-internet-automobile-Uber,foucs

Consumer trust in self-driving cars has plummeted following high-profile roadway fatalities, with almost three-quarters of Americans now saying they are too afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle, according to a new survey. 

The survey by the American Automobile Association shows faith in robot rides has been shaken by two March incidents: A pedestrian in Arizona struck and killed by an Uber self-driving car and a fatality involving a Tesla Model X operating in semi-autonomous “Autopilot” mode. The fear factor reported by 73% of those polled last month was up 10 points from late 2017 and nearly erased gains from the 78% afraid of automated cars early last year.