Susan Shaheen, Brooke Wolfe, and Adam Cohen of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center’s, alongside Michael Hyland (University of California, Irvine) and Younghun Bahk (Ajou University) discuss the findings of a recent publication on robotaxi staging.
Where does a driverless robotaxi go between rides?
Younghun Bahk, Michael Hyland, Susan Shaheen, Brooke Wolfe, Adam Cohen
2026
Shared automated vehicle (SAV) ridehailing services are now operating in several metropolitan regions in the United States. While providing benefits, SAV services may exacerbate issues related to curb usage and vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) in urban areas. The objective of this study is to provide guidance to cities by evaluating the impacts of SAVs’ short-term curb usage for staging between serving ride requests, under different curb restrictions and SAV operational strategies. We focus on the following performance metrics: VKT, curb productivity, customer wait time, and...
Susan Shaheen, the Transportation Sustainability Research Center’s co-director, discusses safety as a motivation for using robotaxis.
"Autonomous vehicles are designed to travel a little more cautiously and conservatively, which can make them less erratic than human-driven cars, said Susan Shaheen, a professor of civil and environmental...
Susan Shaheen, Adam Cohen, Jacquelyn Broader, Sarah Hoban, Ashley Auer, Gustave Cordahi, Shawn Kimmel
2022
NCHRP Research Report 1009: Shared Automated Vehicle Toolkit: Policies and Planning Considerations for Implementation establishes a framework that provides public agencies and other transportation stakeholders with tools and potential strategies that can be used to assess programs; plan infrastructure and services; and implement policies to address converging trends in mobility on demand (MOD), automated vehicles (AVs), and emerging modes of transportation. This report should be of immediate use to a variety of public and private stakeholders who are seeking to plan for and implement MOD...
Automated vehicles, if shared, have the potential to blur the lines between public and private transportation services. This chapter reviews possible future shared automated vehicle (SAV) business models and their potential impacts on travel behavior. By examining the impacts of non-automated shared mobility services like carsharing and ridesourcing, we foster a better understanding of how current shared mobility services affect user behavior. This serves as a starting point to explore the potential impact of SAV services. Several key studies covering the topic are discussed....
Automated vehicle technology offers many opportunities to improve the quality of public transport. This chapter reviews key understanding and takeaways from an international workshop that took place in July 2016 at the Automated Vehicle Symposium in San Francisco, California, which focused on the ongoing development of shared automated mobility services and public transit. During the two-day workshop, speakers from the public and private sectors, academia, and nongovernmental organizations presented key findings from their work. Discussion centered around the implications of the...
We review the history, current developments, projected future trends and environmental impacts of automated vehicles (AVs) and on-demand mobility, and explore potential synergies. Many automobile manufacturers and Google plan to release AVs between 2017 and 2020, with potential benefits including increased safety, more efficient road use, increased driver productivity and energy savings. Estimates of AV energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions range from an ~80 % or greater decrease to a threefold increase; however, we argue that net decreases are likely. On-demand mobility services...
