Americans express growing fears about self-driving cars [Video]

The thought of cruising down the highway and passing a vehicle with no one behind the wheel makes many motorists nervous.

Almost 70% of people said they were afraid of self-driving vehicles, up from 55% last year, according to a new survey from AAA survey. Such findings mean automakers need to do a better job at making self-driving technology safer and more reliable, the auto club said Thursday. 

“We were not expecting such a dramatic decline in trust from previous years,” said Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive research, said in a statement. “Although with the number of high-profile crashes that have occurred from over-reliance on current vehicle technologies, this isn’t entirely surprising.”

Most of those high-profile crashes involving self-driving vehicles come from Tesla. Last month, the Elon Musk-owned automaker recalled some 363,000 vehicleswith self-driving technology because the cars sometimes ignore posted speed limits or blow past intersections. The National Highway Traffic Safety …