But the technology appears poised for a leap forward in 2022.
Automated vehicles hold tremendous promise.
We studyautomated vehicle technologiesandhow consumers are likely to use them.
40% off TNW Conference!
This will increase transportation-related pollution and traffic congestion, unless regulators take steps to make car travel less appealing.
People would also have the ability to send their cars on zero-occupancy trips, or errands without passengers.
Convenient, but also twice the driving.
This could be a big problem.
The transportation sector is alreadythe leading contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
What if automated vehicle technology makes it harder to achieve these goals?
We found two innovative ways to use currently available technologies to study the real-world impacts of automated vehicles.
In a study published in mid-2021, we surveyed 940people who drive partially automated vehicles.
Is there any way to reap its benefits without making climate change, air quality, and congestion worse?
Requiring future automated vehicles to use zero-emission technology,as California is doing, can be a big help.
They could do this by putting a price on car travel particularly on zero-occupancy trips.
But the impact of fuel taxes on drivers behavior will decline with the adoption and spread of electric vehicles.
This means that the transportation sector will need to develop new funding mechanisms for ongoing costs like maintaining roads.
Modern communication technologies can enable such policies by tracking where and when cars are on the roads.
Another option would be to promote shared fleets of automated vehicles rather than privately owned ones.
We envision these as commercial companies, similar to Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing providers.
These networks could also help riders reach fixed-route public transportation services that operate on main transportation corridors.
All of these policies will be most effective if they are adopted now, beforeautomated vehiclesare widespread.
