2018/09/07 by Morteza Taiebat, Austin Brown, Austin L. Brown +4
Computer Science · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Automation #Business #Economics #Efficient energy use #Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure #Engineering #Environmental economics #Environmental impact assessment #Order (exchange) #Sustainability #Sustainable transport #Transport engineering #Transportation Planning and Optimization #Transportation and Mobility Innovations #cs.CY #econ.GN #q-fin.EC
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b00127
published as Environmental Science & Technology, 2018, 52(20), 11449-11465
openalex publication_date 2018/09/07 · arxiv created 2019/02/17 · arxiv updated 2019/02/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are poised to reshape transportation and mobility by replacing humans as the driver and service provider. While the primary stated motivation for vehicle automation is to improve safety and convenience of road mobility, this transformation also provides a valuable opportunity to improve vehicle energy efficiency and reduce emissions in the transportation sector. Progress in vehicle efficiency and functionality, however, does not necessarily translate to net positive environmental outcomes. Here, we examine the interactions between CAV technology and the environment at four levels of increasing complexity: vehicle, transportation system, urban system, and society. We find that environmental impacts come from CAV-facilitated transformations at all four levels, rather than from CAV technology directly. We anticipate net positive environmental impacts at the vehicle, transportation system, and urban system levels, but expect greater vehicle utilization and shifts in travel patterns at the society level to offset some of these benefits. Focusing on the vehicle-level improvements associated with CAV technology is likely to yield excessively optimistic estimates of environmental benefits. Future research and policy efforts should strive to clarify the extent and possible synergetic effects from a systems level to envisage and address concerns regarding the short- and long-term sustainable adoption of CAV technology.