Public perception of Autonomous Vehicle Safety in San Francisco
Research Team:
Carlos Guirado
Matthew Raifman
Fiona Norton
SangHyouk Oum
Julia Griswold
Funding Organization:
California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS)
Summary:
(Image credit: Amalia Stahl)
San Francisco provides a unique environment to study how daily interactions with Autonomous Vehicles shape public trust and acceptance. To capture these insights, UC Berkeley SafeTREC designed a survey conducted by Ewald & Wasserman from May to June 2025, gathering data from drivers, passengers, and pedestrians with firsthand experience. Findings reveal a large difference in AV safety perception across different road user groups, with passengers reporting significantly higher trust levels than the pedestrians and human drivers sharing the road.
Start date: October 1, 2024
Completion date: September 30, 2025
Project resources:
-
Public perception of Autonomous Vehicle Safety in San Francisco Factsheet (September, 2025). This factsheet summarizes key findings of 2025 Autonomous Vehicle Safety Perception Survey.
- To receive a copy of the survey report please contact UC Berkeley SafeTREC at safetrec@berkeley.edu.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).