Mobility for the Non-mobile

Mobility for the Non-mobile: Putting Driverless Vehicles to Use for Those Who Really Need a Ride explores solutions for providing mobility for the unserved and underserved, including those who cannot drive themselves, cannot afford the transport alternatives that exist for them, or who live in areas where neither public nor private forms of transport are offered. It 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 for those who cannot afford to buy and own their own car. 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 emphasis on affordability Discusses automated vehicles from a multidisciplinary perspective—each chapter touches a unique issue related to AVs