Are robotaxis good for the climate?

by | Jan 3, 2024 |

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Blanca Begert November 29, 2023 Susan Shaheen, UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center Co-Director discusses shared automated vehicles with Polictico. “If you could get more people sharing a car, when you start to look at the vehicle miles traveled and the greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant impacts, they’re likely going to be lower,” said Susan Shaheen, a California Air Resources Board member and director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center. Prior to the pandemic, numbers for carpools or van pools were already starting to slip. And during the pandemic, these numbers tanked for rideshare companies and were never able to return. Shaheen says AV companies and regulators could learn from past mistakes and recent studies to incentivize pooling through pricing, updates to rideshare logistics and changes to urban design. “If we allow these systems to be deployed without policy strategies or interventions, perhaps we will see an increase in demand and an increase in VMT,” said Shaheen. “But if we introduce these vehicle systems in concert with policies directed at land use and operations and pricing mechanisms, do we get different outcomes? Our research would suggest ‘yes.’” Read full article...

What opportunities do robo-taxis in San Francisco offer? Experts explain.

by | Sep 19, 2023 |

Photo/Bill Stone, California PATH/UC Berkeley Rachel Leven September 19, 2023 Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center, discusses automated vehicles with the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. Hundreds of self-driving cars have flooded San Francisco streets following a recent state decision that allowed certain ‘robo-taxis’ to operate 24 hours a day and to charge passengers. This new reality could provide data that helps vet decades of theory about autonomous vehicles and how they fit into society, UC Berkeley academics said. This moment also offers an opportunity to reimagine what accessibility and equality looks like in transportation. “Technology has the potential to provide powerful strategies to address a number of societal issues. However, advanced technology also has the ability to divide,” said Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center and a civil and environmental engineering professor. “That’s something we really need to be conscious of as we move forward.” Read full article...