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.