On May 9th from 11am to 12pm EDT, the Transportation Research Board’s Economic Development and Land Use Committee (ASM50) will be hosting a webinar featuring two research presenting their findings on Autonomous Vehicles and Equity Implications.

Dr. Alireza Ermagun will present Empirical evidence of bias in public acceptance of autonomous vehicles. This study synthesizes 91 peer-reviews surveys on public attitudes toward AVs. Its findings alert researchers and transportation practitioners to empirical evidence of bias in said survey studies. Correcting these biases will require preventive actions to remove systematic errors in questioning and incorporate people with disabilities and racial minorities.

Katie Emory will present Autonomous vehicle policies with equity implications: Patterns and gaps. This review of academic and grey literature analyzes the impact of AVs on social equity for disadvantaged groups. It finds insufficient consideration of people with low incomes, people of color, personal security issues, and models for deploying AVs in rural communities. These are areas that policymakers must consider while developing policy around AVs to ensure equitable and sustainable economic growth.

Recordings of past webinars are available on Transit and Gentrification, COVID-19 and Transit Mobility, and Machine Learning and Travel Behavior.