Abstract
Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are rapidly emerging as a viable alternative form of public transportation with the potential to provide adequate and user-friendly, on-demand services without having vehicle ownership. It has been argued that SAVs could revolutionize transportation systems and our current way of life. Although SAVs are likely to be introduced in developed countries first, there is little doubt that they would also have a significant effect and enormous market in developing nations. This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence public acceptance of SAVs, as well as the current public attitude toward SAVs, in two developing countries, namely, Pakistan and China. A stated preference survey was conducted to understand respondents’ travel patterns, preferences, and sociodemographic data. A total of 910 valid responses were gathered: 551 from Lahore, Pakistan, and 359 from Dalian, China. A multinomial logit model and a mixed multinomial logit model with panel effect were used for data analysis. The results suggested that generic attributes, such as respondents’ waiting time, travel time, and travel cost were found to be significant in both cities. The results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics, such as education, income, travel frequency in a week, and people who had driver’s licenses, are significantly correlated with respondents’ interest in using SAV in Lahore. The results also showed that people who had a private car indicated a greater interest in SAVs in Dalian. The study provides a new perspective to understand the public preferences toward SAVs in developing countries with different economies and cultures, as well as a benchmark for policymakers to make effective policies for the future implementation of SAVs.
Highlights
In recent years, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have emerged as a new form of transportation with the potential to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and urban environment
Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are likely to transform the structure of urban areas, towns, and neighborhoods [7, 10]. e deployment of SAVs will reduce parking demands in urban centers, and enable the available space of parking to be used for various economic activities, infrastructure development, and other active and green transportation modes, such as walking, Journal of Advanced Transportation bicycling, and make the downtown area more attractive and sustainable [11]. e operational costs for SAVs are $0.13–0.50 per mile, and the use of SAVs could lead to a 90% reduction of parking spaces [12, 13]
One latest study revealed that 10% of survey respondents were willing to move farther from the city center in the presence of AVs and SAVs in the few years, while 15% of the survey respondents indicated that they would likely move closer to the city center, which has an impact on travel behavior and land use [7]. e initiation of SAVs offers an opportunity for employment and business growth in the charging zone and reduces the adverse impact of road congestion pricing [15, 16]
Summary
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have emerged as a new form of transportation with the potential to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and urban environment. A recent study suggests that SAVs can create bottlenecks for other road users by stopping on the curbside to take and drop passengers [18] In developing countries such as China and Pakistan, rapid urbanization has profound negative effects in major metropolitan areas. Is increase in private car travel has caused several negative effects, such as increases in congestion, accidents, fuel consumption, air pollution [23], and public transportation ridership stagnation [23, 24]. Kuhnert et al [25] stated that China was likely to have a similar level of technological development as the USA and Europe by 2030 They argued that the percentage of Chinese using traditional vehicles will decrease substantially by 2030, due to a shift toward shared modes of transportation such as robo-taxis and shared bikes.
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