By EMS1 Staff
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a recent study, researchers concluded that women would be less likely than men to ride in a driverless ambulance.
Researcher and Embry-Riddle assistant professor Joseph Keebler presented the study’s findings this week. In the study, men and women were asked to decide how willing they would be to ride in a driverless ambulance, and receive the care of two paramedics rather than one.
When presented with the prospect of riding in a driverless ambulance, women were more likely to react with anger, and were less willing to do so. Men, however, responded to the hypothetical scenario with fear or happiness, and which made them less or more willing.
“Our results showed that consumers were fairly positive toward the idea of the traditional ambulance configuration, while they had mixed feelings about the autopilot configuration,” associate professor Stephen Rice said. “About half of the consumers were negative toward the autopilot.”
Assistant professor Scott R. Winter said that if a patient is suffering a heart attack, a driverless ambulance may increase stress. “If you’re having a heart attack and all of a sudden a driverless vehicle shows up, that would be an unexpected event,” he said.
Despite the study’s findings, researchers said automated emergency response vehicles may soon become a reality. They said automated ambulances can allow more EMS providers to tend to a patient during transport.
“Having additional health care providers in the back of an ambulance promotes teamwork and helps to improve patient outcomes,” Keebler said.