Who Will Own and Have Propriety over Our Automated Future? Considering Governance of Ownership to Maximize Access, Efficiency, and Equity in Cities

Abstract

Automated vehicle technology presents an opportunity to remake urban mobility in a way that maximizes access, efficiency, and equity. One of the roles for policymakers is to ensure that future governance of automated vehicles (AVs) achieves this. When considering governance, the current literature centers on issues related to the safe operation and deployment of AVs but has not fully considered the implications of AV ownership and ridesourcing platform data propriety on achieving the most desirable urban mobility outcomes. Specifically, the literature has not considered: a future scenario where individually owned AVs are shared when not in use; and the implications of ridesourcing platform data remaining proprietary in future. This paper analyzes why: the future of AV ownership may not be a binary choice between owning an AV/not sharing and sharing an unowned fleet, which is the current consensus in the literature; the incentives for consumers to simultaneously own an AV and share it when they are not using it could be high; the way ridesourcing platform data is collected, used, and shared could be a very influential factor for urban mobility outcomes, but its implications have not been robustly analyzed in the literature; and future scenario-building and modeling should consider the implications of widespread sharing of individually owned AVs, as well as the implications of ridesourcing platform data propriety on urban mobility outcomes. Developing a foundation for future good governance of AV ownership and ridesourcing platform data propriety should be an immediate priority for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.