An empirical study into the effects of private automated vehicles on drivers' parking location choice

Abstract

Automated vehicles (AVs) have been receiving much attention all over the world, where the first fully AVs are already operating on the road network. AVs could not only have a tremendous impact on the urban environment but also on human travel behaviour. The focus of this study is to gain insight into the effects of private highly AVs on drivers’ parking location choice. The capability of AVs to ride and park themselves instead of being parked by the driver, will result in a change in parking choice behaviour. The aim of this research is to find the importance of different factors that could influence drivers’ parking location choice for a future situation in which private highly AVs will become available for passenger transport. The results of this study are used to guide opportunities for promising parking policies. In this study, theoretical expectations are examined with an empirical framework to get conclusions on the medium- and long term impacts of highly AVs on drivers’ parking location choice. A stated preference experiment was specified to examine which parking location drivers would chose, based on factors that influence their decision for the parking location. The Hague is used as a case study for this research in which it is assumed that passengers have their destination in the inner city of The Hague. Two parking locations are considered: parking at an off-street parking garage in the inner city and parking at an off-street parking lot at the edge of the city. Based on the model interpretation, it can be concluded that individuals are most sensitive for a change in direct costs, i.e. the ‘parking cost’ at the parking facility and the ‘parking fee’ for temporary parking the highly AV at an onstreet parking place near the passenger’s destination when the vehicle arrives too early at the pick-up point. Furthermore, it can be concluded that individuals are less sensitive for ‘personnel surveillance’ at the parking facility and the ‘risk of extra waiting time’ for the vehicle arriving too late at the pick-up point. Personal characteristics, trip characteristics and perceptions on the risk of damage during the empty vehicle driving trip do not affect attributes that influence drivers’ parking location choices. To reduce the number of on-street parking places in the inner city, it is advised to forbid the parking of highly AVs at on-street parking places. Released on-street parking space could be used for amongst others drop-off and pickup manoeuvres. To minimize the number of empty vehicle kilometres on the road network, it is advised to stimulate short term parking of highly AVs in the inner city and stimulate long term parking of highly AVs at the edge of the city. Furthermore, it is advised to implement a parking fee for temporary parking the vehicle at an on-street parking place near the passenger’s destination in the inner city. With an implemented parking fee, the municipality is able to 1) control supply and demand, 2) account for competitor pricing and 3) account for external factors (e.g. peak periods). When more parking capacity is needed, it is advised to invest in flexible parking facilities at the edge of the city near distributor roads.