Driverless cars – advantages of not owning them: car share, active travel and total mobility

Abstract

This opinion paper, building on discussions about total mobility within the Transport & Health Study Group, challenges the idea that driverless cars will be used as cars are now. Shared use opens wider opportunities than merely safety, roadspace and parking. It is healthy to walk and cycle for short journeys and to the station for longer journeys. Driverless vehicles could promote or undermine this. The paper discusses the following: when people still need to own their own cars; when door-to-door transport might be needed; how to use driverless vehicles in a system that encourages walking to the station; dichotomy between individual and mass transport; balance between highly autonomous vehicles and existing technologies for tracked systems; spatial planning; loss aversion as an explanation of reluctance to change; guided hotlanes as a first step; and shared road/rail infrastructure from variable block communicating with vehicles.