Societal Readiness Levels for Autonomous Vehicles
Research Project, 2018 – 2023

Much of the world’s attention has been captured by autonomous vehicles (AVs) and their manufacturers, but in its excitement over technical specifications the industry has lost sight of how certain behaviors and services could be prerequisites for society using this technology well. Without ridesharing, AVs might increase energy consumption, encourage urban sprawl, increase traffic congestion, worsen socioeconomic stratification at the personal level, and decrease public transit ridership. Only with ridesharing do we receive the significant social benefits for sustainable cities and transport that AVs promise: ridesharing can reduce CO2 emissions, reduce traffic accidents, increase the safety and diversity of interaction for vulnerable groups, increase mobility access for individuals and decrease economic loss due to traffic congestion. Rather than leaving the future in the hands of the manufacturers, communities and transit operators need to understand why ridesharing works in some regions and not in others, and how to localize and replicate the success stories. This industrial PhD aims to analyze international use cases and use Technological Readiness Level methodology to create a framework for evaluation and recommendations for increasing ridesharing, known as Societal Readiness Levels for Autonomous Vehicles.

Participants

MariAnne Karlsson (contact)

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Design and Human Factors

Sigma Dolins

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Design and Human Factors

Helena Strömberg

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Design and Human Factors

Collaborations

Keolis Sverige AB

Stockholm, Sweden

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Göteborg, Sweden

Funding

VINNOVA

Project ID: 2018-04063
Funding Chalmers participation during 2018–2022

VINNOVA

Funding Chalmers participation during 2018–2022

Related Areas of Advance and Infrastructure

Sustainable development

Driving Forces

Publications

2021

Diagnosing Sharing Anxiety

Licentiate thesis

More information

Latest update

11/1/2023