Would being driven by others affect the value of travel time? Ridehailing as an analogy for automated vehicles

Jingya Gao (), Andisheh Ranjbari () and Don MacKenzie ()
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Jingya Gao: Tongji University
Andisheh Ranjbari: University of Washington
Don MacKenzie: University of Washington

Transportation, 2019, vol. 46, issue 6, No 8, 2103-2116

Abstract: Abstract It is widely believed that vehicle automation will change how travelers perceive the value of travel time (VoTT), but the magnitude of this effect is still unknown. This study investigates how highly automated vehicles (AVs) may affect VoTT, using an existing mode—ridehailing services (RHS)—as an analogy for AVs. Both AVs and RHS relieve travelers from the effort of driving and allow them to participate in other activities while traveling. In a stated choice experiment, respondents chose between driving a personal vehicle or taking an RHS, with each mode characterized by a cost and travel time. Analysis results using a mixed logit model indicated that the VoTT was 13% lower when being driven in an RHS than when driving a personal car. We also told half the respondents (randomly selected) that the RHS was driverless; and for half (also randomly selected) we explicitly mentioned the ability to multitask while traveling in an RHS. Mentioning multitasking explicitly led to a much lower VoTT, approximately half that of driving oneself. However, the VoTT in a driverless RHS was 15% higher than when driving a personal car, which may reflect a lack of familiarity and comfort with driverless technology at present. These results suggest sizable reductions in VoTT for travel in future AVs, and point to the need for caution in making forecasts based on consumers’ current perceptions of AV technology.

Keywords: Value of travel time; Discrete choice model; Ridehailing service; Driverless vehicles; Multitasking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11116-019-10031-9

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