By Jonathan Bach 

A fatality linked to Tesla Motor Inc.'s Autopilot system has done little to dent confidence in Silicon Valley's ability to do a better job than traditional auto makers when it comes to development of software for autonomous cars, according to a new AlixPartners LLP survey.

The consulting firm surveyed slightly more than 1,500 respondents shortly before the late-June disclosure of the Tesla fatality and then followed up with a revised study after the incident attracted significant attention. In both cases, 41% of respondents said they trusted Silicon Valley most to develop self-driving software, far exceeding those who consider Japanese, U.S. or European auto makers the best fit.

The company's initial survey was done without respondents' knowledge of the fatality, which occurred in May.

The results underscore the concern among conventional auto makers that they are perceived to be behind Tesla, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and other tech firms in the race to deploy autonomous vehicles. Most major auto makers have devoted significant research and budgets to self-driving car development, but Google's car project team and Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk have gotten credit for being faster movers in certain areas.

Google, for instance, has been credited for amassing more than a million test miles with autonomous prototypes on public roads, creating a sizable lead over competitors. While Tesla has been criticized for not doing enough to educate drivers on how to properly use its Autopilot, the company has been the most aggressive when it comes to equipping its cars with advanced safety systems.

Overall interest in autonomous cars didn't take much of a hit after the Tesla fatality was disclosed, slipping only 3 percentage points. There was "not a massive falloff" in popular opinion around self-driving cars after the crash was disclosed, AlixPartners Managing Director Mark Wakefield said.

Joshua Brown, a 40-year-old Ohio owner of a Tesla Model S, died when his electric car drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel truck on a highway in Williston, Fla., on May 7, according to regulators and a Florida Highway Patrol report. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

The second survey showed the crash may have raised Tesla's name recognition in the self-driving sphere and raised awareness of autonomous cars generally. Before the crash, Google was the dominant company people knew of when it came to self-driving cars, at 42%, while Tesla came in second at 23%. In the second survey, 55% of participants cited Tesla, while Google's name fell to 20%.

Trust in autonomous cars rose when people were given the option to take control of the car in an instant versus having a fully autonomous vehicle, Mr. Wakefield said.

AlixPartners first conducted the study in June partially because the skeptical media attention around self-driving cars didn't necessarily reflect what the firm saw happening in the industry, Mr. Wakefield said.

A similar survey recently released by the Boston Consulting Group of consumers in the U.S., China and Germany supported AlixPartner's results. People in those markets didn't lose marked interest in riding in self-driving vehicles, be they completely or semiautonomous, even in light of recent scrutiny around the technology's safety.

Autonomous cars found the most favor in China, where Boston Consulting saw an uptick in interest, from 75% in a study conducted last August to 81% this month. In the U.S., a slight drop from 53% to 48% of participants showed interest in self-driving cars. German consumers remained most wary when compared to the other two markets.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2016 08:42 ET (12:42 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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