Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport

Autonomous vehicle (AV) projects in public transport have again started getting attention and funding, after a lull of almost a year induced by Covid and its financial impact on transit agencies.

New policies and programs have been announced and funding extended by USDOT; pilot projects have been launched; automated transit bus demonstrations have been completed; new partnerships have been formed; funding has been raised by autonomous shuttle manufacturers and technology providers; and so on. USDOT has stated that nearly 70 AV projects for transit, comprising full-size transit buses and low-speed automated vehicles (LSAVs), are either in operation or at the planning stage. For many of these projects, transit agencies have received USDOT funding through various programs.

For the potential of AVs to be fully realized, some of the themes that need to be discussed with a sense of urgency in the next year or two include safety, equity, accessibility and inclusion, privacy and data security, cybersecurity, consistent standards, information sharing, AV electrification, and collaboration and transparency. Governments, agencies and policymakers will also have to undertake stronger policy action to keep pace with the rapidly evolving AV technology.

To discuss the progress so far, best practices and key issues, AV America and Global Mass Transit are organizing the 4^th edition of the conference, “Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport”, on January 25-26, 2022 at JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square

The mission of the conference is to examine the recent developments and progress in the deployment of autonomous vehicles for public transit including first/last-mile, fixed route, paratransit and circulator services. It will also discuss the policy framework, best practices to integrate AVs and public transport, potential use cases of AVs in public transport, strategies for the deployment of AVs to support transit operations, infrastructure required to deploy AVs, and funding strategies. The conference will showcase case studies, pilot projects, and new and existing technologies for AVs.

The conference will bring together experts from the federal, state and local governments, transit agencies, operators, vehicle technology suppliers, R&D institutes, academic institutions and private companies to discuss developments and issues in policy, planning, funding, technology, market development, testing and deployment of AVs.

Key topics to be discussed:

– Policies, guidelines and regulations driving the development of AVs

– Automated Vehicles 4.0 (AV 4.0)

– Automated Vehicles Comprehensive Plan

– Transit bus automation, STAR Plan

– Role of transit agencies/operators in the connected autonomous mobility future

– Impact of Covid-19 on AVs in public transport

– Use cases for shared AV services including first/last-mile, fixed route, paratransit and circulator services and impact on transit

– Planning and designing new autonomous and driverless mobility services and integrating them into public transit networks

– Prioritizing equity, accessibility and inclusion around the deployment of AVs

– Consumer acceptance – affordability, comfort, privacy and safety

– Impact of AV technologies on workforce

– Learnings from pilots, case studies and experience so far

– Infrastructure requirements for the deployment of AVs

– Data ownership, protection and privacy

– Developing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, FTA guidance

– AVs and Mobility-on-Demand

– AVs and Mobility-as-a-Service(MaaS)

– Mobility hubs of the future, integrating AVs and other forms of transit