The potential role of Dutch urban and transportation planners in the Automated Vehicles transition

Abstract

The transition towards fully Automated Vehicles (AV) can lead to inefficient use of the available infrastructure in the Netherlands, while space is already scarce. - Knowledge from AV impact studies can help the government in the management of available infrastructure. Therefore, in this research a systematic literature review was carried out in order to describe the spatial impact of AVs. Secondly, this research used an interview method, a workshop and a questionnaire, to show how Dutch stakeholders (urban planners of the government and transportation companies) perceive these impacts and what actions they are planning to take in reaction to these impacts. The results showed that urban planners are worried about introducing AVs, but despite these worries, the introduction of AVs is not included in most strategies and policies. The actions that are preferred by most of them to manage potential negative AV impacts are stimulating car-sharing, public transport and bicycle use and discouraging private vehicle use by parking policies. These actions are supported in the literature. Recommendations for further research are on estimating the effect of these actions in practice and on evaluating the potential support of citizens for these actions.