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Urban Mobility System Upgrade:
How shared self-driving cars could change city traffic
Go to report:
Urban
Mobility System Upgrade: How shared self-driving cars could
change city traffic
Why
What if all car trips in a city were undertaken by a fleet of fully coordinated self-driving vehicles? In light
of rapid urbanisation, the development of self-driving cars and a “shared economy” (based on optimising usage of spare capacity),
we investigate the potential impacts of a radical upgrade to today’s urban mobility system.
How
We explore this question on the basis of detailed mobility data including origin, destination and timing of all trips for a mid-sized European city.
We developed a model to test various alternative transport system configurations that nonetheless would provide the same level of mobility (locations
and timing) as today. We explore two different self-driving vehicle concepts – “TaxiBots” which can be shared simultaneously by several passengers,
while “AutoVots” pick-up and drop-off single passengers sequentially. We look at two different time periods (24 hr. average and peak-hour only), and model scenarios with and without high-capacity (HC) public transport (in the form of rail or bus rapid transit). We report impacts on car numbers, volume of travel, congestion and use of space.
What we found
- The same mobility can be delivered with many fewer cars…
- …but the overall volume of car travel will likely increase…
- …though congestion can be significantly reduced
- Reduced parking needs will free up significant public and private space
- Ride-sharing vs. car-sharing: TaxiBots replace more cars than AutoVots
- Public transport will have an impact on both self-driving fleet requirements and volume of travel
- Managing the transition will be challenging
Policy Insights
- The impact of self-driving shared fleets is significant but is sensitive to policy choices and deployment scenarios
- Actively managing freed capacity and space is still necessary to lock-in benefits
- Road safety will likely improve Environmental benefits will depend on vehicle technology
- New car models and business models will be required
- Public transport, taxi operations and urban transport governance will have to adapt
- Mixing shared self-driving fleets with traditional cars will not deliver the same benefits as full fleet deployment, but remains attractive
Find out
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