What a difference a year makes! According to a new study, the technology new vehicle buyers want most is semi-autonomous driving technologies, such as General Motors Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise. It didn’t make the top 10 list of wants in the same study last year.
Interest in semi-autonomous driving technology spiked in 2025, according to AutoPacific.
According AutoPacific’s 2025 Future Vehicle Planner survey data, 43% of new vehicle intenders — those claiming they’re considering buying a new car — said the feature they most wanted is hands-off semi-autonomous driving for highway use only with driver attention required. Last year, that number was just 23%.
What changed? Trust.
AutoPacific’s research has shown that autonomous driving and ADAS features have struggled to capture strong demand from new vehicle intenders over the past couple of years primarily due to unproven technology and lack of consumer comfort with their vehicle having control over situations.
It seems the tune has shifted as some technologies become more prominent in new vehicles and consumers gain experience and confidence in them.
This year’s data shows an increase in the percentage of new vehicle intenders overall who say they “trust advanced car safety systems that prevent accidents automatically,” as well as those who agree with the statement, “I want my vehicle to be able to safety drive itself so I can do other things (read, watch movies, work, etc.).”
A driver hangs his feet out the window, checks texts while using Tesla Autopilot.
Younger buyers
As is often the case when it comes to new technologies, it’s younger generations moving more quickly to adopt them. It’s not just the Super Cruise/BlueCruise/Autopilot-style tech alone. They’re also more comfortable with the individual technologies that comprise these advanced driver assistance systems.
A younger future vehicle buyer is also a major factor as AutoPacific’s data over the years has shown that Generation Y and Z consumers have higher comfort with autonomous driving and ADAS features and also higher demand. The median respondent age for the 2025 Future Vehicle Planner is 39, compared to 44 in 2024.
“As younger generations continue to enter the new vehicle market, they bring more knowledge of technology and enthusiasm for having it in their vehicle,” says AutoPacific director of marketing and consumer research Deborah Grieb.
More Technology News
- Autonomous Driving Tech Plans Helping Some, Cursing Others in Auto Industry
- Toyota Teaming Up With Waymo on Autonomous Vehicles
- Auto Industry Preps for Autonomous Driving
Other hands-free choices
The shift down in average age is showing up in other ways too as more tech-oriented safety and convenience technologies all saw massive jumps in desirability year over year. Joining the hands-off, semi-autonomous highway use tech was rearward automatic emergency braking tied for the top choice at 43%, which was up more than 10% compared to last year’s study.
Other big movers, included other hands-off type technologies, such as hands-off, fully autonomous driving for all speeds to a pre-specified destination (no driver controls) with no driver attention required. It jumped from 18% to 38%. Similarly, hands-off, fully autonomous driving for all speeds to a pre-specified destination (with driver controls available) with no driver attention required jumped from 23% to 37%.
It’s important to note that these two technologies aren’t in use in mass numbers in the United States. Only Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot offers this Level 3 autonomous technology, and it’s only available in California and Nevada.
Experience matters
Drivers are beginning to become more comfortable with safety technology as they see more applications of it on a regular basis. Specifically, the various components that make up these semi-autonomous systems are now regularly available on mainstream vehicles.
“Great new ideas can be very appealing to consumers, but until they are commonplace, consumers are less likely to insist on having those new features in their next vehicles,” says Ed Kim, AutoPacific’s president and chief analyst. “Automakers that offer such highly demanded but uncommon features stand to have a competitive edge over their competition.”
These technologies include things like adaptive cruise control, lane change assist, emergency evasive steering assist, rear cross-traffic alert with emergency braking, and more. And all of this combined with the younger generation’s willingness to trust the technology means it’s more desirable.
“With a global autonomous vehicle race underway, increased consumer demand and confidence are great news for the U.S. market,” Grieb said.
What you need vs. what you want
For the first time in the history of the 4-year-old study, AutoPacific asked respondents if the features they say they want are must-haves, meaning they won’t buy a vehicle without it, or nice-to-have and could be sacrificed due to price or availability.
Preliminary data reveals all-wheel drive, blind spot cameras, power front driver’s seat, parking sensors for the front and rear, and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are most likely to make or break the deal with greater than 60% of respondents who want those features saying they are must-haves.
Good news for those folks: These are commonly available and popular features with high installation rates in modern vehicles.
But new and emerging features with strong appeal are by their nature not common yet, and many of them are less likely to be “must-haves” despite strong consumer demand. This explains why hands-off semi-autonomous driving for highway use only with driver attention required, the top demanded feature overall, is only a must-have for 33% of consumers.
0 Comments