We all know how dangerous driving is, but I was still surprised when I saw how many people would support putting restrictions on human drivers once self-driving technology becomes more accessible. According to a nationwide poll, more than a fourth of the people in the United States would support limits on human drivers on the grounds that self-driving cars have been proved to be safer. 

In a new national poll, more than 1 in 4 Americans said they would support limits on humans driving cars in the near future, given the fact that robotic self-driving cars could be safer. Google says that self-driving cars will likely be commercialized in about 5 years and their widespread use could overtake human-driven cars soon after. From the available evidence are much much safer: Self-driving cars have been involved in only a few minor accidents, which is why they could save the lives of around 21,000 people a year in the U.S. and avoid billions of dollars in cost. Hence, this is why the world’s happiest mad scientist, Tesla founder Elon Musk, thinks that the government may eventually outlaw humans driving cars altogether, or at least place severe restrictions on them. At this stage, 27% is a much higher poll number than I was expecting. It was only 17 years ago that 27% of Americans favored legalizing marijuana — and now a majority do. That’s roughly the same trend for gay marriage as well.