The surprising reason why car buyers are willing to pay double for self-driving technology

Many car buyers are willing to spend twice as much on self-driving technology than on any other category, even on additional safety features, according to a new study. Here, in just three points, is the gist of driver assistance and why automakers are going after it HARD:

The gist: Car manufacturers look at driver assistance and see money. Lots of it.

But wait: what exactly is driver assistance? Why are people willing to spend so much more to get it? And how do we all think about this technology in our own cars versus how we think about Cybertaxis and Waymos? Here I will try to explain what a research company mentioned Escalatingwhich studies customer behavior on behalf of car manufacturers, has learned what technology you want and why you are willing to pay more for a car that drives itself.

To provide you with the most accurate information for this report, we interviewed experts from research firms Escalent and AutoPacific and accessed internal research from both companies. We also examined General Motors and Ford’s quarterly results and contacted both automakers for additional comment.

What the technology!?

Getting back to the basics of this story, all driving aids fall under the heading of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and there are six levels, from basic technology like adaptive cruise control, where you can set the distance between the car in front of you and your sled that will maintain that gap, to fully automated driving, like a Waymo taxi.

Level 2-Plus systems include GM’s Super Cruise, BlueCruise, Nissan’s ProPilot Assist 2.1, plus Mercedes-Benz has been testing a Level 3 system called Drive Pilot, which is available on some cars and on some stretches of highway through parts of California and Nevada. FYI: Despite the name, Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system is only a Level 2-Plus system.

For clarification: Level 2-Plus includes cruise control with these capabilities (on some, but not all, roads):

Features of Level 2-Plus

• Automatic lane keeping

• Supported braking and restarting (e.g. in stop-and-go traffic)

• Assistance with changing lanes

• In some, but not all cases, hands-off control/feet off the pedals

In several interviews over the past week, GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker was also working on Level 3, which, like Mercedes’ Drive Pilot, would offer limited ability to look away from the road. This means you can catch up on your email or read it without the car panicking because your eyes are not on the road ahead. This is not yet possible with systems from other car manufacturers.

Follow the money

In Escalent’s survey, drivers said the top five features worth their money are:

1. Security

2. Automated driving

3. Entertainment

4. Safety

5. Vehicle maintenance

Keep in mind that automated driving isn’t first on that list. The richer the buyer, the more he was willing to pay. Interestingly, Escalent’s data reflects something Ford told me separately, which is that buyers want flexibility in their plans.

“Our offering is all about customer choice. If a customer selects a version with BlueCruise hardware, they can choose how to activate the software based on their needs. A customer can activate BlueCruise for a month during the holidays and not activate it again until spring break.”

In short, most Ford buyers don’t want Tesla’s astonishing $8,000 premium. You prefer an ordering structure like buying a movie from Amazon or Apple TV, or even calling an Uber. This makes perfect sense: for example, to drive your car home after a night out with friends. This is of course much safer if you have been drinking.

Younger buyers want this technology

I also contacted AutoPacific for this report. They study driver behavior and question drivers about the technology they want. And the image of the technology of choice is changing, according to Robbie DeGraff, product and consumer insights manager at the company.

“Of the more than 100 vehicle features, technologies, powertrains, amenities and more we gauged demand and desirability for in this year’s 2025 Future Attribute Demand Study, hands-off, semi-autonomous driving on highways (such as GM Super Cruise and Ford Blue Cruise) was the most sought-after feature.”

– Robbie DeGraff, Product and Consumer Insights Manager, AutoPacific

DeGraff says the younger you are, the more you want even more advanced, “…fully autonomous for all speeds where the driver does NOT have the option to drive (no steering wheel), and for the same system where the driver can still choose to drive.” Data from AutoPacific indicates a major shift in consumer confidence. Older drivers are still very wary of autonomy, but fewer younger buyers are.

The demand for autonomy is increasing

In the chart above from AutoPacific, blue represents responses this year versus last year, and you can see that demand for automated driving features is almost doubling, for both eye-on technology, eye-off technology and fully automated driving. DeGraff says the younger car buyers are, the more they accept automated driving. In part, this is due to the fact that so many young people are used to driving, period, and younger buyers are entering the early years of car buying. AutoPacific’s number of respondents to this survey was 39, compared to 44 in 2024. AutoPacific data shows that as these younger buyers are exposed to Cybertaxis and Waymos, they are less afraid of them.

GM and Ford are betting on the ubiquity of their technology

While Ford wouldn’t tell me how much they make from BlueCruise, they did reveal that there are more than 1 million BlueCruise-equipped vehicles on the road worldwide, with 500,000 more BlueCruise-equipped cars added in the past year. However, GM is still far ahead. GM offers Super Cruise in 23 models for Chevy, GMC, Cadillac and Buick, and they say their mapped deployment over 600,000 miles of roads in the country and Canada is four times that of any competitor. They also tout that Super Cruise drivers have driven 545 million miles hands-free without any accidents. The more people are exposed to driver assistance, the more customers are willing to pay.

The quiet part

GM’s Mary Barra told the assembled media at an event last week that Tesla did not have the same LiDAR technology as GM. Similarly, Tesla does not rely on highway mapping, but instead leans on their camera and AI technology to manage automated driving. And Tesla has had accidents and is being re-examined as to how Full Self Driving works – or doesn’t work.

Barra likely has access to internal research, as AutoPacific’s research shows: nearly half of all buyers want cars that can fully drive themselves, and this number is sure to rise. Because, as AutoPacific notes, most of our exposure to this technology still hasn’t been in-person. Most of us have never been in one Waymo or Cybertaxi. And yet our levels of trust are rising due to its relative ubiquity.

TopSpeed’s opinion

KC Boyce of Escalent, a vice president at the company, says the biggest danger for any automaker will be how they educate consumers – or do it wrong. It’s clearly not about cost, at least not for wealthier consumers.

But AutoPacific’s DeGraff says automakers can certainly harm themselves by fiddling with their messaging about how their technology functions. For example, even though Tesla tells its customers that full self-driving requires them to keep their eyes on the road, the brand name belies that message. Boyce said automakers need to take the educational component of driver assistance much more seriously, and have seen strong efforts from at least a few brands.

“In terms of the solution, it will likely be multi-layered and start at the dealer with the test drive, delivery and (perhaps) delivery of the encore. We have also recommended that we offer our customers a free trial for technology with subscription options so that customers can become familiar with it before having to pay.”

– KC Boyce, VP of Powertrain Innovation and Energy Transformation, Escalent

Automated driving is not an ‘if’ question. It’s a when. GM promises to be eyes-off by 2028. My guess: Tesla will rise to that challenge and race there much faster, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other automakers follow suit as well. Because this is about brand differentiation and finding consistent revenue streams. In a country where cars seem increasingly identical, autonomy, at least during the beta period, will be unique.

Source: The informationEscalent and AutoPacific