Knowledge is up. Trust isn’t. More Americans than ever understand what a fully self-driving car actually is — and they still don’t want to get inside one. That’s the takeaway from the fresh J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Mobility Confidence Index, conducted with the MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium. In 2026, 58% of Americans correctly defined what “full automation” means. Two years ago, only 43% could.
But confidence? Frozen solid. The autonomous mobility trust index stayed at 39 out of 100. Not a single point of progress in two years, and only two points above the 2023 reading. The verdict from analysts is blunt: familiarity with the technology isn’t enough. Knowing isn’t believing.
The sticking point is the same as it’s always been — safety. Six in ten respondents said it straight: what stops them from climbing into a driverless car is fear for their own life. People worry about how the machine will behave in an emergency, in heavy rain, in dense city traffic. And here’s where it gets interesting: trust shifts dramatically depending on who or what the robot is hauling. 54% of Americans would trust a self-driving car with their dinner delivery. Only 31% would trust it with their own kid. And the bleakest number of all: just 16% are willing to share the road with a fully autonomous semi-truck. The technology is moving forward. People aren’t.
