The opening of a Wired report by Damon Lavrinc about new consumer research into autonomous vehicles, which registered with more acceptance among Americans than I anticipated at this point:

“Nearly every automaker is working on some form of autonomous vehicle technology, but according to a new study, consumers are more interested in a self-driving car from Google than General Motors.

The study, conducted by U.S. audit and advisory firm KPMG, polled a diverse group of drivers from both coasts and in between, pulling samples from Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Iselin, New Jersey.

The focus groups were asked about their willingness to use an autonomous vehicle every day, and rank their trust in the company producing the car on a scale of one to 10. While high-end automakers like Mercedes-Benz received a median score of 7.75, tech companies like Google and Apple scored an eight, and mass-market brands (Chevrolet and Nissan) came in at five.

‘We believe that self-driving cars will be profoundly disruptive to the traditional automotive ecosystem,’ said Gary Silberg, KPMG auto expert and author of the report.”