Executive Summary · Autonomous Vehicles

Last updated: October 2026
The XandY Poll, April 2025, N = 1,467
plus public data through mid-2026

Autonomous vehicles: who is ready to ride, what holds everyone else back, and what moves them

The essential findings from XandY's national polling and analysis on this topic, condensed to one page for the industry, policymakers, and anyone trying to build public trust in AVs.

All autonomous vehicle research

The numbers that matter

44% vs 29%Americans who oppose vs. support letting robotaxi services operate in their local area; a quarter are unsure 3 to 1strong opposers outnumber strong supporters (25% vs. 8%); the intensity gap is wider than the overall gap 1 in 3know that AV taxis are already carrying passengers in U.S. cities; half think they are still being tested or are years away 28%hold the belief the crash data supports: that accidents are more likely with human drivers than with AVs. 31% say the opposite, 40% can't say 60%rank driving safety as their single biggest concern about AVs, far ahead of jobs, hacking, cost, and privacy combined 21%would ride a fully autonomous vehicle regularly today, and another 15% within three years. 36% say never

Three charts to remember

Support flips with one belief0%40%80%29%44%All U.S. adults60%20%Believe crashes are much morelikely with human driversSupport local robotaxisOpposeThe XandY Poll 2025 The less people know, the more they oppose0%20%40%60%"Already used in most cities"38% oppose"Already used in a few cities"41% oppose"Being tested in limited settings"48% oppose"Far from real-world use"62% oppose"Don't know enough to say"50% opposeSupportOpposeThe XandY Poll 2025 No developer has majority trust yet0%20%40%60%majorityTraditional automakers48%Large tech companies36%Shipping & transportation35%Rideshare companies39%Startups35%Trust to build safe AVsDistrustThe XandY Poll 2025

What the public thinks

  • Unsettled, not hostile. Opposition leads support, but a quarter are unsure on almost every question. Opinion could tip either way, and it has already tipped toward support in cities where robotaxis operate. Read more →
  • Awareness lags reality. Only a third know AVs are already on the road in U.S. cities. People who think AVs are "far from real-world use" oppose local service by more than two to one. Read more →
  • Governed, not blocked. Roughly three-quarters support strict privacy rules and stricter-than-standard safety requirements. A plurality opposes making deployment easier. Read more →

What moves them

  • One belief carries nearly everything. Whether AVs are safer than human drivers predicts support more than anything else we measured (r = 0.44). Among believers, support runs about 60–20 instead of 29–44. Read more →
  • Knowledge of the present. Simply knowing that AV taxis already operate, safely, in several cities is one of the strongest correlates of support in the data. Read more →
  • Exposure normalizes. San Francisco support rose from 44% to 67% in two years as rides became routine. Inside service areas, 52% say robotaxis should be legal, versus 34% outside them. Read more →

What to do about it

  • Sell the safety record, not the ride. Ads about comfort and novelty target attitudes while leaving the load-bearing belief untouched. Put the crash data, in plain terms, at the front of every message. Read more →
  • Change the playbook for the pragmatists. Innovators adopted because it was new; the early majority adopts because it is proven and normal. Show ordinary people riding, and the visible evidence behind it. Read more →
  • Borrow trusted messengers. No developer has majority trust. Automakers come closest (48%); the rideshare brands most visible in deployment rank near the bottom (31%). Let institutions the public already trusts carry the evidence. Read more →

Sources: The XandY Poll, April 2025, U.S. adults (18+), N = 1,467, MoE ±3: Already here but barely known: public opinion on AVs in 2025 · XandY (2026): AVs are safe. Now we need safety beliefs., First it was the enthusiasts. Now it's your neighbor. · Crash rates from Waymo's published safety impact data (170.7M rider-only miles) and a peer-reviewed analysis of the first 56.7M miles; ridership, service-area, and San Francisco figures from public polling and company reporting cited in the articles; 5% of Americans have ridden a driverless car per Pew Research Center (2026). Contact: xandyanalytics.com/contact · XandY — the science of social momentum.