Introduction The article by Kyriakidis, Happee, and de Winter (2015) entitled “Public opinion on automated driving: Results of an international questionnaire among 5000 respondents” was published in the Transportation Research Part F journal. The research presented in the article aimed at the analysis of users’ attitudes toward automated vehicles across different demographic groups and countries. The researchers attempted to identify the advantages and disadvantages of the partially, highly, and fully automated driving as perceived by the users from diverse backgrounds to clarify the main concerns (Kyriakidis, Happee & de Winter 2015). The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the nature of global public opinion on automated vehicles use with regards to their main concerns related to security, costs, and control. These findings are expected to facilitate the manufacturers’ operations not only in the direction of vehicle production but also in regards to public perception, legal issues, and taxation. Main body The researchers justify their study by articulating the potential of automated vehicles in resolving the issues of fatal car incidents and the reduction of air pollution. In their opinion, it is essential to integrate the knowledge about the public’s attitude toward such technology-driven driving mechanisms to be able to address the challenges and integrate automated driving on a broader scale (Kyriakidis, Happee & de Winter 2015). The literature review presents a number of the formerly conducted surveys on automated vehicles which investigated the issue from different angles. They emphasize that the majority of the reviewed studies “are limited to one or two automation levels, and a small number of countries” (Kyriakidis, Happee & de Winter 2015, p. 130). The current research, on the other hand, involves participants from 109 countries who were surveyed about three automation levels and other related concerns. For their quantitative study, Kyriakidis, Happee, and de Winter (2015) developed a 63-question online survey across 5000 respondents from 109 countries. At the stage of sampling, there were no restrictions for the participants due to the authors’ intention to collect information for the most diverse population. The questions and instructions were formulated in plain language and included the inquiry of specific details. They included “age, gender, driving frequency, mileage, accident involvement, and preferences/worries regarding manual driving, partially automated driving, highly automated driving, and fully automated driving” (Kyriakidis, Happee & de Winter 2015, p. 131). The retrieved data were analyzed at both individual and international levels using descriptive statistics calculations and correlative analysis. The responses were collected between “4 July 2014 08:00 and 7 July 2014 04:26 Central European Time” and then were filtered as per the applicability to study requirements (Kyriakidis, Happee & de Winter 2015, p. 131). Ultimately, 114 respondents were excluded from the study due to the lack of confirmation of their acquaintance with the instruction or because of their age (respondents under 18 years old were discarded). The remaining 4886 respondents were included in the following analyses.