Does automation strengthen the ‘system of automobility’? Critical considerations and alternatives to connected and automated vehicles

Abstract

ABSTRACT Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are at the centre of considerations for future mobility systems and are seen as a potentially powerful solution to current transport problems. Accordingly, the debate on governance strategies and in engineering is determined by technological possibilities to overcome these problems. However, various studies show that CAVs will solve transport problems under certain conditions only. On the contrary, without respective governance strategies CAVs will (re-)produce and reinforce social and socio-spatial inequalities. Moreover, by reinventing the privately-owned automobile, CAVs could strengthen the societal formation of automobility. Therefore, alternative developments need to be considered, especially those that are not primarily linked to new technologies, but reflect on wider processes of economic, political and cultural transformation. Finally, this leads us to challenge the dominant technocratic approach in the current political debate on the future of mobility.