Will autonomous vehicles change residential location and vehicle ownership? Glimpses from Georgia

Abstract

Many studies have begun investigating possible transportation landscapes in the autonomous vehicle (AV) era, but empirical results on longer-term decisions are limited. We address this gap using data collected from a survey designed and implemented for Georgia residents in 2017-2018. Focusing on a hypothetical all-AV future, this section of the survey included questions regarding advantages/disadvantages of AVs, short-term mode choice impacts, mediumterm impacts on activity patterns, and long-term behavioral changes-specifically, whether/how AVs will influence individuals to change residential location and the number of cars in the household. We hypothesize that AVs could act in concert with attitudinal preferences to stimulate changes in these long-term decisions, and that some medium-term activity changes triggered by AVs could motivate people to relocate their residence or shed household vehicles. We applied exploratory factor analysis to measure the perceived likelihood that AVs would prompt various medium-term changes. We then included some of those measures, among other variables, in a cross-nested logit (CNL) model of the choice of the residential location/vehicle ownership bundle. Although more than half of respondents expected "no change" in their bundle, we found that younger, lower income, pro-suburban, and pro-non-car-mode individuals were more likely to anticipate changing their selections. In addition, some expected medium-term impacts of AVs influenced changes in these longer-term choices. We further applied the CNL model to two population segments (Atlanta and non-Atlanta-region residents). We found notable improvement in goodness of fit and different effects of factors across segments, signifying the existence of geography-related taste heterogeneity.

Are we willing to relocate with the future introduction of flying cars? An exploratory empirical analysis of public perceptions in the United States

“…In line with the observations from the previously discussed models, older individuals were more likely (by 0.004, as indicated by the pseudo-elasticity in Table 6) to consider not relocating at all. This observation is in agreement with the finding by Kim et al (2020), where residence relocation potential was investigated given that autonomous vehicles are introduced. However, individuals who grew up in urban areas were less likely (by -0.138, as shown by pseudo-elasticities presented in Table 6) to consider not relocating.…”

Impact of trust and travel experiences on the value of travel time savings for autonomous driving

“…Two important research areas within this topic are already addressed in empirical studies: the potential impact of changes in travel time valuation on (i) trip distance preferences and indirectly on residential (or work) location choices (e.g. Kim et al, 2020) and (ii) daily time use patterns beyond travel time use (e.g. Pudāne et al, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, residential location choices can be addressed together with other long-term impacts, such as a change in the car ownership rate (e.g. Kim et al, 2020). Regarding daily time use pattern changes, a recent study (Pudāne et al, 2018) proposed a model that captured the effects of the feasibility of performing on-board activities in an AV on time use or individual daily time schedules.…”

Anticipating Changes in Lifestyles That Shape Travel Behavior in an Autonomous Vehicle Era—A Method-Oriented Systematic Literature Review

“…Only a few of the individuals interviewed in the qualitative study conducted by [26] considered that the availability of autonomous vehicles could have an impact on their location choices (see Supplementary Materials for the detailed results). The large quantitative survey conducted by [27] highlights that about 11% of respondents would move further from the location they travel to most often and 12% would move closer (NB: this survey did not raise the issue of whether the autonomous vehicle was privately owned or shared). Considering a private ownership hypothesis, ref.…”