Mobility on Demand in the United States

The growth of shared mobility services and enabling technologies, such as smartphone apps, is contributing to the commodification and aggregation of transportation services. This chapter reviews terms and definitions related to Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), the mobility marketplace, stakeholders, and enablers. This chapter also reviews the U.S. Department of Transportation’s MOD Sandbox Program, including common opportunities and challenges, partnerships, and case studies for employing on-demand mobility pilots and programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of vehicle automation and on-demand mobility including pilot projects and the potential transformative impacts of shared automated vehicles on parking, land use, and the built environment

Effects of driverless vehicles

Driverless vehicles have the potential to significantly affect the transport system, society, and environment. However, there are still many unanswered questions regarding what the development will look like, and there are several contradictory forces. This paper addresses the effects of driverless vehicles by combining the results from 26 simulation studies. Each simulation study focuses on a particular case, e.g. a certain mobility concept or geographical region. By combining and analysing the results from the 26 simulation studies, an overall picture of the effects of driverless vehicles is presented. In the paper, the following perspectives are considered: what types of application of driverless vehicles have been studied in literature; what effects these simulation studies predict; and what research gaps still exist related to the effects of driverless vehicles. The analysis shows that it is primarily driverless taxi applications in urban areas that have been studied. Some parameters, such as trip cost and waiting time, show small variations between the simulation studies. Other parameters, such as vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), show larger variations and depend heavily on the assumptions concerning value of time and level of sharing. To increase the understanding of system level effects of driverless vehicles, simulations of more complex applications and aspects such as land use, congestion and energy consumption are considered

What impressions do users have after a ride in an automated shuttle? An interview study

In the future, automated shuttles may provide on-demand transport and serve as feeders to public transport systems. However, automated shuttles will only become widely used if they are accepted by the public. This paper presents results of an interview study with 30 users of an automated shuttle on the EUREF (Europäisches Energieforum) campus in Berlin-Schöneberg to obtain in-depth understanding of the acceptance of automated shuttles as feeders to public transport systems. From the interviews, we identified 340 quotes, which were classified into six categories: (1) expectations about the capabilities of the automated shuttle (10% of quotes), (2) evaluation of the shuttle performance (10%), (3) service quality (34%), (4) risk and benefit perception (15%), (5) travel purpose (25%), and (6) trust (6%). The quotes indicated that respondents had idealized expectations about the technological capabilities of the automated shuttle, which may have been fostered by the media. Respondents were positive about the idea of using automated shuttles as feeders to public transport systems but did not believe that the shuttle will allow them to engage in cognitively demanding activities such as working. Furthermore, 20% of respondents indicated to prefer supervision of shuttles via an external control room or steward on board over unsupervised automation. In conclusion, even though the current automated shuttle did not live up to the respondents’ expectations, respondents still perceived automated shuttles as a viable option for feeders to public transport systems.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport and PlanningHuman-Robot InteractionIntelligent VehiclesTransport and Plannin

Pumping the Brakes on Robot Cars: Current Urban Traveler Willingness to Consider Driverless Vehicles

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.The research reported here was supported in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), SPEED Program Grant No. 83594901the University of Michigan Energy Institute (UMEI) and University of Michigan Dow Sustainability Fellows progra

Understanding the socioeconomic adoption scenarios for autonomous vehicles: A literature review

There is great and growing interest in autonomous vehicles (AVs), both in relation to rapid technological developments and the trialling of these developments, and the potential for their far reaching impacts on transport systems and society. The present report examines scenarios and policy and practice challenges for the adoption of AVs. Whilst it has broad relevance for societies, in the industrialised democracies at least, there is a particular focus on the UK context

Understanding acceptance of Autonomous Mobility Services using statistical and deep learning approaches

The emergence of vehicle automation and its subsequent growth has led to new transport service offerings, generally known as Autonomous Mobility Services (AMS), that have the potential to facilitate or even replace human-operated vehicles. AMS contains different forms of potential mobility options which may contradict current transport modal concepts in terms of functionalities. For example, an autonomous shuttle bus which is a form of autonomous transit may serve similarly as an autonomous taxi/robo-taxi in terms of functionalities, coinciding with the concept of Shared Autonomous Mobility Services (SAMS). Even if the functionalities or operational principles are different, peoples' perceptions of sharing rides in any of these services may be alike. Apart from these confusions in functionalities mentioned above, peoples' attitudes and acceptance of AMS, once it's implemented in any form in the public road environment, remains a significant research aspect. To address these issues, this thesis tried to first clearly distinguish different types of AMS. Second, it tried to assemble the progress till now in acceptance-related research of AMS while reviewing the previous study approaches, outcomes, policy implications, and future research directions. Third, this study attempted to understand the acceptance of AMS using statistical and deep learning approaches leveraging both survey and social media data. Fourth, this study tried to present the consequent applicabilities and limitations of using both types of data sources for autonomous vehicle acceptance research. Eventually, this thesis intends to present an overall idea of the AMS acceptance research with future directions leveraging both data sources in an individualistic or combined manner.Includes bibliographical references

Autonomous Shuttles in Santa Fe Springs

The urban planning implications of AV Shuttles and how they could be incorporated into Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles, California

Autonomous Shuttle Transit: An Exploratory Case Study and the Future Impact on TSU Campus

By 2040 the third-largest city in the United States, Houston, Texas, a top global city for traffic congestion, will become a significant metropolis with future growth possibilities of 11 million people passing Chicago (HGAC, 2018). For this purpose, Houston and surrounding growing populations will contribute to gridlock traffic, with highway expansions increasing ozone and inefficient transit systems with longer commutes in underserved, sidelined communities. Above all, historically, persons of color, notably Black Indigenous Persons of Color (BIPOC) in Black and Brown marginalized communities, are deprived of transportation accessibility. Undoubtedly, Driverless Shuttle (DS) rideshare platforms reflect that higher-income whites are admittedly more likely to hold discriminatory attitudes toward fellow passengers of different classes and races (Middleton & Zhao, 2019). At the same time, Environmental Justice (EJ) studies have shown that Black and Brown low-income disenfranchised communities are more exposed to inefficient transit systems. They are characterized by unequal treatment and accessibility to the bus than affluent White commuters (Bullard, Johnson, and Torres, 2004). As a result, systemic racism, an unfair burden of environmental injustice, has plagued the Greater Third Ward transit-dependent population. For this purpose, Houston\u27s Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) riddle inequities have shaped public transportation for every minoritized BIPOC within the community (Spieler, 2020). Most importantly, Blacks are twice as likely to experience inferior transportation access as their more affluent counterparts (Sisson, 2019; Bullard, Johnson, and Torres, 2004, p.2). According to Harvard Law (2021), Bullard states, In 1990, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality assuredly documented that environmental vulnerability mapped closely with Jim Crow segregation. This why racial redlining discriminatory zoning, and inefficient land use practices, (Bullard, 2021, p. 245; Bullard, 1990) target Houston\u27s Black and Brown neighborhoods, hindering economic and social advancement in employment, education, and health care (Bullard, 2021, p. 245; Bullard, 1990; Freemark, 2020; Talbott, 2020). The problem of injustice was examined by longitudinal data where an Autonomous Vehicle bus pilot associated with the built environment in this study highlighted 1. Transportation inequality along the TSU Campus Tiger Walk is related to bus stops. 2. Distance between three designated bus stop locations. 3. Safety and critical driving functions fully driverless for an entire trip. 4. First/last mile driverless shuttle connectivity interacting with Metro buses and Light Rail in Houston\u27s Greater Third Ward neighborhood. The methods of research incorporated qualitative and quantitative analysis. The study used a driverless shuttle to compare racial and social economics between bus stops at Texas Southern University, a historically black university, during an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Shuttle pilot study. For this purpose, Autonomous Shuttle Transit, an additional mode of mobility, will connect Houston\u27s Greater Third Ward transit-dependent population to Metro’s bus and light rail networks. In addition to bus stops along the TSU Campus Tiger Walk. This study made a similar theoretical comparison of the Tiger Tram to AV two years before the TSU Shuttle pilot. The results pointed to a link between income and transit-dependent populations using a driverless shuttle under specific conditions. A Google map determined the half-mile distance along the TSU Campus Tiger Walk. The driverless shuttle and socioeconomics of Political Science, Administrative Justice, and Psychology undergraduate classes were used to measure transportation equity horizontally. A regression analysis was carried out to determine if the socioeconomic factors had statistical significance. Also, linear regression modeling was used to determine which sociodemographic variables strongly predict the transport mode used. The findings revealed that Blacks, people with disabilities, and the TSU AV shuttle working with metro buses were statistically significant at a 95% confidence level. Also, a predictor of respondents walking, and biking will use the Autonomous Shuttle as an additional mode of transportation. Also, the data analysis results indicate a significant negative correlation between the driverless shuttle time intervals along the TSU Tiger Walk and the Metro bus service. This correlation implies that higher percentages of respondents will walk further from the TSU campus Tiger Walk central location to the bus stop connecting Third Ward’s transit-dependent residents to the Metro Light rail. Likewise, in the Third Ward community, low-income transit-dependent populations in the Cuney Homes are disproportionately exposed to inadequate transit access than any other area in the neighborhood. The results also support the Environmental Justice (EJ) claim that minorities and low-income transit-dependent populations are closer to bus stops and farther away from the light rail. Although the results showed that race, income, and disability variations are likely to predict that TSU’s transit-dependent population will use the TSU Autonomous Shuttle connecting the Third Ward community. Comparing the social demographic indicators along the TSU Tiger Walk and the Third Ward area shows that deed restrictions do not address EJ concerns associated with bus stops and transportation modes. The conclusion indicates that despite several decades of EJ policies and transit regulations, institutional racism in the Third Ward neighborhood is embedded. Over the decades, African Americans and other people of color have been disproportionately exposed to transit injustice because they are concentrated in neighborhoods with less transit accessibility. However, the TSU Campus Tiger Walk still has fewer efficient transit options than other Third Ward census tracts that map closer to bus stops with higher income

Fear of Change: Autonomous Vehicle Technology and the Automobile as a Cultural Artifact

The automobile is a cultural artifact embedded in our lives and imbued with meaning. Autonomous vehicle technology stands to alter not just the way we drive or whether we drive, it also has the power to fundamentally change the way we live. The development of driverless cars enables the examination of the complex relationships that individuals have with the automobile and reveals the fears associated with this technological change

The Effect of Robo-taxi User Experience on User Acceptance: Field Test Data Analysis

With the advancement of self-driving technology, the commercialization of Robo-taxi services is just a matter of time. However, there is some skepticism regarding whether such taxi services will be successfully accepted by real customers due to perceived safety-related concerns; therefore, studies focused on user experience have become more crucial. Although many studies statistically analyze user experience data obtained by surveying individuals' perceptions of Robo-taxi or indirectly through simulators, there is a lack of research that statistically analyzes data obtained directly from actual Robo-taxi service experiences. Accordingly, based on the user experience data obtained by implementing a Robo-taxi service in the downtown of Seoul and Daejeon in South Korea, this study quantitatively analyzes the effect of user experience on user acceptance through structural equation modeling and path analysis. We also obtained balanced and highly valid insights by reanalyzing meaningful causal relationships obtained through statistical models based on in-depth interview results. Results revealed that the experience of the traveling stage had the greatest effect on user acceptance, and the cutting edge of the service and apprehension of technology were emotions that had a great effect on user acceptance. Based on these findings, we suggest guidelines for the design and marketing of future Robo-taxi services