Impacts of Regulations and Policies on CV and AV Technology Introduction in Transit Operations

Connected vehicle (CV) and autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies offer the potential to significantly change public transportation systems and improve the safety, effectiveness, and quality of services. For instance, first- and last-mile AV services could bring riders to line haul modes and significantly increase ridership, while dynamic, on-demand services could improve service coverage to disabled individuals as well as transit services in rural and suburban areas. Governing bodies, DOTs, and local transportation agencies will require a better understanding of the ramifications of emerging CV/AV enabled applications. For example, extensive regulations, rules, and contracts govern the operations and characteristics of transit systems. Some of them, such as preservation of current job categories, could be incompatible with the new technologies. Almost certainly, the role of transit drivers will change and that will require significant coordination with labor unions. Also, there will be a need for new safety certification procedures of AV transit systems that are not confined to fixed guideways, as well as new risk insurance models and pricing. Such issues need to be identified, understood, and next steps identified to enable the widespread adoption of CV/AV technologies in transit systems. The objectives of this research were to: (1) describe the current regulatory and policy landscape of transit system planning, development, funding, implementation, and operations that could impact the introduction of CV/AV technologies; (2) describe regulatory and policy changes that may be needed to facilitate the enhancement of existing, and implementation of new forms of public transportation enabled by various CV/AV technologies; and (3) identify and discuss the implications of CV/AV technologies for stakeholders involved in the governance and regulation of public transportation.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3935
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This project research report is published as NCHRP Web-Only Document 239

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  20-102(02)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  Kimley-Horn

  ,    
• Principal Investigators:

  Lott, Sam

• Start Date: 20160104
• Expected Completion Date: 20170515
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Connected vehicles; Governance; Policy; Public transit; Regulations
• Subject Areas: Policy; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01781468
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: 20-102(02)
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 8 2021 9:00PM