Abstract
A growing literature suggests that widespread travel conducted through driverless connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) accessed as a service, in contrast to those personally owned, could have significant impacts on the sustainability of urban transportation. However, it is unclear how the general public currently considers willingness to travel in driverless vehicles, and if they would be more comfortable doing so in one personally owned or one accessed as a service. To address this, we collected travel survey data by intercepting respondents on discretionary or social trips to four popular destinations in a medium-size U.S. city in the spring of 2017. After collecting data on how the respondent reached the survey site and the trip’s origin and destination, survey administrators then asked if respondents would have been willing to make their current trip in either a personally-owned driverless vehicle or through a driverless vehicle service. Over one-third expressed willingness to use both forms, while 31% were unwilling to use either. For those that considered only one, slightly more favored the personally-owned model. Consideration of an existing mobility service was consistently a positive and significant predictor of those that expressed willingness to travel in a driverless vehicle, while traveling downtown negatively and significantly influenced consideration of at least one form of driverless vehicle. These findings highlight the diverse public views about the prospect of integration of CAVs in transportation systems and raise questions about the assumption that travelers to central city locations would be early adopters of automated vehicle mobility services.
Highlights
The development of driverless connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) could have transformative consequences for the transportation sector [1]
Despite significant popular and academic interest and belief in the rapid diffusion of autonomous vehicles and technology, this research indicates that much remains to be studied about consumer interest in adopting CAV technology, and that low public consideration of SCAVs at present remains a challenge that will need to be addressed should their introduction in future urban transportation systems continue to be proposed
Our results suggest a need for caution about assuming that CAVs will be widely accepted in dense multi-use central areas of cities
Summary
The development of driverless connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) could have transformative consequences for the transportation sector [1]. The effects remain speculative since CAV operation is still at an early experimental stage, and a great deal of technological and policy advancement will be required to facilitate their widespread use. Policymakers are actively considering how to integrate CAVs into existing urban transportation systems. All of the major automobile manufacturers and many information technology (IT) companies are intensively developing CAVs, which receive significant research and testing support from multiple levels of government. As vehicle technology continues to advance and public discussion continues about how to integrate CAVs into cities, there is a need to assess public willingness to consider the use of this potentially disruptive technology and how such adoption may influence urban planning and sustainability-related outcomes
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