(Bloomberg) -- Almost three-quarters of U.S. drivers areeager to replace the daily commute’s drudgery with a self-drivingcar and 80% say they would pay extra to have a robot take thewheel, according to a survey that contradicts other recentstudies.

AlixPartners said that when the 1,517 people itsurveyed were presented with the attributes of self-driving cars,73% said they would want autonomous vehicles to take over all theirdriving needs. Mark Wakefield, head of the consulting firm’sautomotive practice, said 90% would let a driverless car handletheir commute if they could occasionally take the wheel.

The results go against several recent studies showing as many ashalf to three-quarters of respondents weren’t ready to give up thewheel. The University ofMichigan Transportation Research Institute said last month thatit found that just 16% of Americans would prefer to ride in anautonomous vehicle, while 46% wanted nothing to do with robot carsand 39% would accept a partially self-driving vehicle.

Consumer acceptance is critical for automakers and tech giantslike Alphabet Inc.’s Google that are investing billions in driverlesscars they plan to put on the road by 2020.

“It’s worth remembering that commuting sucks and it has gottenworse every decade,” Wakefield said in an interview. “Autonomousdriving increases the economic utility of the commuter and it makestheir life better. When you describe what it can do, they likethat.”

Previous surveys

Wakefield said that what automakers testing autonomous vehicleshave told him didn’t square with what he had seen from previoussurveys. The companies “were saying, when we put people in thesecars, they adore them,” he said. “They actually freak out theengineers because they get so comfortable so fast that the engineersitting beside them has to say, ‘You may want to put your hands onthe wheel.’"

Previous surveys may have fostered a bias against autonomousvehicles by emphasizing worst-case scenarios, Wakefield said.AlixPartners’ survey, done online earlier this month, found a“sweet spot” in offering drivers the option of taking the wheel ina vehicle that otherwise would operate autonomously.

“Having some sort of control where you can pilot the vehicleseems to be quite important to people,” Wakefield said. “They lovethe autonomous stuff, but they just want the ability to control itin whatever situations they’re imagining they need that.”

That preference could work against Google’s plan to offer fullyself-driving cars without steering wheels, accelerators or brakepedals, he said.

Consumer preferences

Yet Silicon Valley companies had a clear advantage when consumerswere asked who they trust most to develop the software and protectthe privacy of data from driverless cars. AlixPartners said 41% inits survey said they wanted Silicon Valley to develop the software,compared to 26% who preferred Japanese automakers, 17% who choseU.S. automakers and 7% who favored European car companies.

When it comes to building the cars, U.S. and Japanese automakersranked first and second, with 27% and 25%, respectively. SiliconValley was a close third at 24%, followed by European automakerswith 12%.

Components market

Driverless cars will hit an inflection point in 2020 when theybegin arriving on roads, according to AlixPartners. By then, themarket for autonomous-related components, such as systems thatsteer wandering cars back in their lanes or automatically navigatethrough stop-and-go-traffic, could surpass $20 billion, the firmsaid.

Self-driving cars, which drive more efficiently and safely, could save$325 billion by 2020 by avoiding accidents and reducing fuel costs,AlixPartners said.

“People do want autonomous vehicles,” Wakefield said. “Peoplestill buy safety. And they do believe these vehicles can be donesafely.”

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