Adoption of partially automated vehicle technology features and impacts on vehicle miles of travel (VMT)

Katherine E. Asmussen, Aupal Mondal and Chandra R. Bhat

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2022, vol. 158, issue C, 156-179

Abstract: In this paper, we examine vehicle owners’ adoption of five different types of partially automated features (PAFs); lane keeping system, backup camera (BUC), adaptive cruise control (ACC), automatic braking system (ABS), and blind spot monitoring; as well as PAF effects on vehicle miles of travel (VMT). The joint modeling of PAF adoption and VMT is achieved using both individual demographic characteristics as well as psycho-social characteristics. A Generalized Heterogeneous Data Model (GHDM) is estimated, which controls for possible self-selection effects in PAF adoption based on VMT, and thus is able to provide “true” PAF effects on VMT. Our analysis specifically indicates that ignoring this self-selection can lead to a significant underestimation of the VMT increase due to PAF adoption. The results also indicate that women and older individuals (65 years or older) appear to be more inclined to invest in assistive PAFs, because of a perception that these assistive features still leave the human driver in control. However, women are less likely than men to invest in the more active ABS PAF because of heightened safety concerns with technology. In terms of PAF effects on VMT, PAFs focusing on lateral movement assistance appear to have a smaller VMT effect than those that serve longitudinal movement assistance. The highest estimated VMT change of 2,462 miles (13.8% change) is for the case when the package of BUC, ACC, and ABS is installed for middle-aged men. The highest percentage VMT change (40%), though, is for the same package of BUC, ACC, and ABS for older women. Overall, there are considerable variations in VMT impact across demographic groupings, suggesting that a single aggregate percentage improvement in safety benefits may suffer from the well-known ecological fallacy.

Keywords: Partially automated vehicles; Vehicle automation; Safety offsets; Vehicle miles of travel (VMT); Psycho-social constructs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856422000441
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:158:y:2022:i:c:p:156-179

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2022.02.010

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().