Image credit: Amalia Stahl
The safety performance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is fundamental to protecting all road users, but public perception of their safety is equally important, as it shapes trust, acceptance, and willingness to share the road with this technology. UC Berkeley SafeTREC has designed and compiled a survey conducted by Ewald & Wasserman from May to June 2025 to better understand the perception of AVs in San Francisco across various user groups including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The research team consisted of Carlos Guirado, Matthew Raifman, Fiona Norton, SangHyouk Oum, and Julia Griswold, and funding for this study was provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
The city of San Francisco provides a unique environment to study safety perceptions of AVs for different road users, given that they have operated on city streets for years and thus allowed residents to experience substantial amounts of interactions with this technology. Because the study focused on people with firsthand experience, respondents who had not interacted with an AV at least once were excluded, so the results cannot be used to estimate how many San Franciscans encounter AVs in general.
Findings reveal a large difference in AV safety perception across different road user groups, with AV passengers reporting significantly higher trust levels than the pedestrians and human drivers sharing the road. 72.5% of passengers trust AVs compared to 51.0% of pedestrians and cyclists, and human drivers have the least amount of trust at only 47.1%. When asked about potential safety improvements, respondents prioritized transparency in safety data and real-world testing (31.2%), followed by calls for better education on capabilities (13.6%) and stronger regulation and oversight (12.2%). Other survey topics include the AV passenger experience; the number of times respondents interact with AVs; top concerns related to AVs; and the experiences of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists around AVs.
While this study provides an overview of AV safety perception in San Francisco across various road users, it cannot determine whether certain experiences and increased interactions with AVs actually cause changes in trust or comfort. Passengers report feeling safer interacting with AVs than drivers do, but it’s unclear whether riding in an AV actually increases that sense of safety, or if people who already trust AV technology are simply more likely to ride.
The study only included participants who had interacted with an AV either as a passenger, pedestrian or cyclist, or other driver on the roadway. As a result, proportions presented reflect the share of this sub-population. The study reflects a particular moment in San Francisco’s AV deployment and perceptions will likely shift over time. Future research tracking the same people over time or comparing cities at different deployment stages could help clarify how these experiences influence trust.
The Public perception of Autonomous Vehicle Safety in San Francisco Factsheet summarizes the survey findings and is available to view on our website. To receive a copy of the survey report, or if you have questions on the study or its findings, please contact SafeTREC at safetrec@berkeley.edu.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).