The Real Case for Driverless Mobility: Putting Driverless Vehicles to Use for Those Who Really Need a Ride

The Real Case for Driverless Mobility: Putting Driverless Vehicles to Use for Those Who Really Need a Ride explores solutions for providing mobility for the unserved/underserved, including those who cannot drive themselves, afford transport alternatives, or who live in areas where neither public nor private transport is offered. The book synthesizes the career-long activities of the authors and the Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summits and assesses whether cars without drivers can deliver an affordable and more effective alternative to mass transit and taxis.

A high percentage of the residents in many U.S. cities are poor, and the jobs that remain are often not easily reached by public transit systems which struggle to deliver a minimum level of service with their limited budgets. The SDC Summits were initiated in 2017 by Alain Kornhauser to attempt to address this problem. This book presents the problem and the proposed solution in a form that can be used by a wide audience and help build a constituency, both for the proof of concept and for an eventual implementation in many cities and towns in North America and other parts of the world.

Professionals, investors, researchers and students alike will find this book a valuable exploration of how driverless technology can be applied to personal transport that can be used by a large sub-group of the population who are not currently served by automobile transport and are poorly served by public transport solutions.

• Takes a perspective from the demand side focused on the have-nots and on assessing and designing the technology to start there and grow
• Looks at how to start small, achieve success, and evolve to scale, with an emphasis on affordability
• Discusses automated vehicles from a multidisciplinary perspective with each chapter touching on a unique issue related to AVs

Alain L. Kornhauser is Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering and Director of the Transportation Program at Princeton University, as well as Faculty Advisor to Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PAVE). A major portion of his professional and research focus has been centered on automated mobility systems. Starting with Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in 1971 through to his current focus on what he terms Smart Driving Cars, his contributions have been many to both the details of the technology and its broader societal implications. He has also contributed to better understanding of the broader societal implications of the technology to the mobility disadvantaged. He led the Princeton team in the 2005 DARPA Challenge and the 2007 Urban Challenge and has been the recipient of numerous awards.

Michael L. Sena is an internationally recognised expert in automated and connected vehicles, digital map databases, location-based services and navigation. He has owned and run a successful consulting practice since 1983, Michael L. Sena Consulting AB, with clients in Europe, North America and Asia in the automotive, software and systems development, and location-based services database industries. From registered architect and urban planner, to developer of the first printed maps using digital data, to location-based services and navigation, Michael has had a full career in shaping both the built environment and the way we move in it. He was a founding member of the ADASIS Forum and has served on ISO and CEN standardization committees. He is the author of Beating Traffic: Time to Get Unstuck (2007), combining his experience with the dynamics of transportation and his background in urban planning and design