PSSST releases final report
The project PSSST (Policies for sustainable, shared self-driving transportation) has ended and the final report is now available. Some of the findings were the importance of mixing different kinds of policies.
Self-driving technology may have large impacts on society, which has been shown by previous research done at ITRL. During 2018-2020, ITRL worked on the project Self-driving vehicles and public – transport opportunities and barriers , which had multiple conclusions regarding the impact for the region of Stockholm, among them that public transport may benefit greatly from self-driving technology. However, one key take-away was that it might result in an increase in car traffic, and therefore also an increase in e.g. CO2, questioning the sustainability of the technology.
ITRL therefore applied for a project continuing the work, together with the division of Transport Planning at KTH, to get a better understanding of how society can govern this technology. In particular the project looked at:
- How does self-driving technology impact the current policy instruments that public actors use?
- Which new policy instruments may be used and which impacts to they have?
As part of the project, six people working with traffic and transportation on a municipal, regional, and national level were interviewed
In summary, the project found that the interviewees regarded the governing instruments as part of a whole, for example parking fees, only should be considered together with other means of control. The context needs to be considered as well as some of the policies might only work during certain hours of the day. Additionally, economic means of control were viewed as more impactful than marketing and planning.
The project plans for two upcoming scientific publications focusing on identifying the methods of governance and developing their model (included in the report).
Read the final report in Swedish