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Niche management of Autonomous Vehicles for positive environmental outcomes in Copenhagen

Clausen, Christian LU (2017) In IIIEE Masters Thesis IMEN41 20172
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Abstract
Cities around the world are leading the race toward an environmentally sustainable future, but one of their major obstacles have been the personal automobile. The movement of people using public transportation often has a far lower impact than the personal automobile, but these systems are often rigid and expensive to build and operator. Now, with the emergence of intelligent transport systems – and soon self-driving (or autonomous) vehicles – cities will become increasingly capable
of offering affordable, convenient, and potentially sustainable transport. Whether autonomous vehicles (AVs) will contribute to sustainable mobility is, however, far from guaranteed. With competing motivations behind the technology’s development, it will be up... (More)
Cities around the world are leading the race toward an environmentally sustainable future, but one of their major obstacles have been the personal automobile. The movement of people using public transportation often has a far lower impact than the personal automobile, but these systems are often rigid and expensive to build and operator. Now, with the emergence of intelligent transport systems – and soon self-driving (or autonomous) vehicles – cities will become increasingly capable
of offering affordable, convenient, and potentially sustainable transport. Whether autonomous vehicles (AVs) will contribute to sustainable mobility is, however, far from guaranteed. With competing motivations behind the technology’s development, it will be up to city authorities to steer the integration of this technology down an environmentally sustainable path. This entails finding purposive measures to prevent congestion, lower vehicle kilometres travelled, and limit the cannibalisation of their public transport systems.

Copenhagen is one city that has recently taken the first step in adopting autonomous vehicles, initiating a preliminary test-phase in a confined area of the city. Though the technology is primed to offer a host of opportunities in Copenhagen, the city will eventually need to consider concrete measures that ensure AV contribute to positive environmental outcomes. The cutting-edge of
literature and experts in the field reveals a number of potential measures, from which four scenarios
could be described. However, based on an evaluation by Copenhagen’s technical and
environmental administration, i.e. the city’s strategic unit, responsible for the integration of AVs in the city, it was impossible to determine which scenario the city is likely to undergo. Lack of knowledge, and the technology’s uncertain interaction with the city’s existing agendas were the main obstacles for the lack of clarity. (Less)
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author
Clausen, Christian LU
supervisor
organization
course
IMEN41 20172
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Autonomous vehicles, sustainable urban mobility, strategic niche management, scenario analysis
publication/series
IIIEE Masters Thesis
report number
2017:14
ISSN
1401-9191
language
English
id
8927449
date added to LUP
2017-10-17 10:42:40
date last changed
2017-10-17 10:42:40
@misc{8927449,
  abstract     = {{Cities around the world are leading the race toward an environmentally sustainable future, but one of their major obstacles have been the personal automobile. The movement of people using public transportation often has a far lower impact than the personal automobile, but these systems are often rigid and expensive to build and operator. Now, with the emergence of intelligent transport systems – and soon self-driving (or autonomous) vehicles – cities will become increasingly capable
of offering affordable, convenient, and potentially sustainable transport. Whether autonomous vehicles (AVs) will contribute to sustainable mobility is, however, far from guaranteed. With competing motivations behind the technology’s development, it will be up to city authorities to steer the integration of this technology down an environmentally sustainable path. This entails finding purposive measures to prevent congestion, lower vehicle kilometres travelled, and limit the cannibalisation of their public transport systems.

Copenhagen is one city that has recently taken the first step in adopting autonomous vehicles, initiating a preliminary test-phase in a confined area of the city. Though the technology is primed to offer a host of opportunities in Copenhagen, the city will eventually need to consider concrete measures that ensure AV contribute to positive environmental outcomes. The cutting-edge of
literature and experts in the field reveals a number of potential measures, from which four scenarios
could be described. However, based on an evaluation by Copenhagen’s technical and
environmental administration, i.e. the city’s strategic unit, responsible for the integration of AVs in the city, it was impossible to determine which scenario the city is likely to undergo. Lack of knowledge, and the technology’s uncertain interaction with the city’s existing agendas were the main obstacles for the lack of clarity.}},
  author       = {{Clausen, Christian}},
  issn         = {{1401-9191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{IIIEE Masters Thesis}},
  title        = {{Niche management of Autonomous Vehicles for positive environmental outcomes in Copenhagen}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}