Transportation research. part c, emerging technologies

Technological advances are bringing connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) to the ever- evolving transportation system. Anticipating the public acceptance and adoption of these technologies is important. A recent internet-based survey was conducted polling 347 Austinites to understand their opinions on smart-car technologies and strategies. Ordered-probit and other model results indicate that respondents perceive fewer crashes to be the primary benefit of autonomous vehicles (AVs), with equipment failure being their top concern. Their average willingness to pay (WTP) for adding full (Level 4) automation ($7,253) appears to be much higher than that for adding partial (Level 3) automation ($3,300) to their current vehicles. This study estimates the impact of demographics, built-environment variables, and travel characteristics on Austinites’ WTP for adding such automations and connectivity to their current and coming vehicles. It also estimates adoption rates of shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) under different pricing scenarios ($1, $2, and $3 per mile), choice dependence on friends’ and neighbors’ adoption rates, and home-location decisions after AVs and SAVs become a common mode of transport. Higher-income, technology-savvy males, living in urban areas, and those who have experienced more crashes have a greater interest in and higher WTP for the new technologies, with less dependence on others’ adoption rates. Such behavioral models are useful to simulate long-term adoption of CAV technologies under different vehicle pricing and demographic scenarios. These results can be used to develop smarter transportation systems for more efficient and sustainable travel.

Assessing Public Opinions of and Interest in New Vehicle Technologies: An Austin Perspective

Lockdowned: Everyday mobility changes in response to COVID-19

The last few decades testify that consumers’ concerns for healthier lifestyles and environment care are driving forces for reshaping food buying intentions and their perspectives on food quality. The present study identifies the importance that consumers attach to quality, health, and environment selected cues of purchased food products. More precisely, to elicit preferences for social, environmental, and qualitative food cues, a survey instrument was developed and applied on 797 Belgian and Romanian consumers. Our findings suggest that investigated consumers most frequently use freshness, taste, and appearance to evaluate food quality. The use frequency of food quality cues related to health is primarily influenced by the attention paid to food quality. The most relevant cues of food healthiness are ingredients, nutrition facts, and additives and for food environmental impact are packaging, food origin, and production type. It is concluded that food quality receives high attention both from Belgian and Romanian consumers and health and environment related cues can be used as a means of improving consumer health and environmental protection.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8673015/file/8673469.pdf

Consumer Understanding of Food Quality, Healthiness, and Environmental Impact: A Cross-National Perspective

What drives the acceptance of autonomous driving? An investigation of acceptance factors from an end-user's perspective

Autonomous Vehicles (AV) may become widely diffused as a road transport technology around the world. However, two conditions of successful adoption of AVs are that they must be synchronously shared, to avoid negative transport network and environmental consequences, and that high levels of public acceptance of the technology must exist. The implications of these two conditions are that travellers must accept sharing rides with unfamiliar others in Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAV). Two factors that have been identified as being positive influencers of acceptance are comfort and trust. The present paper undertakes a novel examination as to how comfort and trust ratings are affected by specific attributes of the ride experience of travelling in a fully-automated real-world, shared vehicle. To this end, 55 participants experienced riding in an SAV shuttle under experimental conditions at a test facility. Each experimental run involved two unrelated participants, accompanied by a safety operative and a researcher, undertaking four trips in the SAV, during which two conditions were presented for each of the independent variables of ‘direction of face’ (forwards/backwards) and ‘maximum vehicle speed’ (8/16 km/h). Order of presentation was varied between pairs of participants. After each run, participants rated the dependent variables ‘trust’ and ‘comfort’ (the latter variable comprised by six comfort factors). Expected and evaluative ratings were also obtained during pre-experimental orientation and debriefing sessions. Statistically significant relationships (p

Passenger comfort and trust on first-time use of a shared autonomous shuttle vehicle

The social perspective on policy towards local shared autonomous vehicle services (LSAVS)

Urban freight consolidation centres are part of the city logistics measures that aim to reduce the negative impacts related to urban freight transport activities, whilst at the same time providing a more seamless, higher-value logistics experience for their users. By collecting the goods destined to the target area and consolidating deliveries into one large delivery made by high-load vehicles, urban consolidation centres can relieve congestion and improve air quality. Significant benefits also accrue to the participating retailers, e.g. improved staff productivity and safety, the provision of pre-retailing services and recycling of packaging.

The paper draws on the experiences of the Bristol-Bath freight consolidation centre (BBFCC), established in 2002 to serve Bristol city centre and uniquely extended in 2011 to cover Bath, each served by electric lorries; it appraises the benefits of shared ‘last mile’ freight services focusing in particular on the perspective of its users: the participating retailers.

The Bristol-Bath urban freight consolidation centre from the perspective of its users

In recent years, there has been enthusiasm amongst commentators that shared-resource economic models can both create new commercial opportunities and address policy problems, including in the transport sector. Within the city logistics subsector, this new model is exemplified by the emergence of Urban Freight Consolidation Centres (UCCs). UCCs replace multiple ‘last-mile’ delivery movements, many of which involving small consignments, by a common receiving point (the consolidation centre), normally on the periphery of a city, with the final part of the delivery being shared by the consignments in a small freight vehicle. Such arrangements can represent a good compromise between the needs of city centre businesses and their customers on the one hand (i.e. high availability of a range of goods) and local and global sustainability objectives on the other. At the same time, by sharing logistics facilities and delivery vehicles, UCCs offer added-value services to both urban economic actors, such as retailers, and network logistics providers. However, UCCs add to the complexity of logistics chains, requiring additional contracts, communications and movement stages. These arrangements also introduce additional actors within the supply of delivery services, notably local authorities present as promoters and funders, rather than simply as regulators, companies specialised in the UFCC operation, and companies which provide specialist technologies, such as electric delivery vehicles. UCCs therefore also represent an example of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Drawing on the results of a 2013 survey in Bristol (UK) and a further survey carried out in 2015 in Cagliari (IT), the present paper provides an in-depth comparison of the differences in the perceptions of urban freight users and stakeholders towards UCCs.

/pdf/multi-stakeholder-collaboration-in-urban-freight-86gzkj8l8d.pdf

Multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban freight consolidation schemes: Drivers and barriers to implementation

Urban freight consolidation centres (UFCCs) can provide a significant contribution to reducing the negative impacts of freight transport to city centres whilst at the same time providing a more seamless, higher-value logistics experience for their users. The paper draws on the experiences of the Bristol-Bath freight consolidation centre (BBFCC), established in 2002 to serve Bristol city centre and uniquely extended in 2011 to cover Bath, each served by electric lorries; it appraises the benefits of shared ‘final mile’ freight services, presenting a model for the evaluation of the reduction in traffic and polluting emissions based on Bristol, with a view to optimising future UFCC design. Data about the number of deliveries made by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) of different types to the BBFCC and the number of deliveries made from the BBFCC to the two shopping centres covering a period of 17 months are analysed. The correlation between the type and number of HGVs delivering to the BBFCC and the number of deliveries made to the retailers by the BBFCC is explicated by means of a multiple linear regression model. Its development is based on analysing parameters as R Square value (total and adjusted), F-statistics and p-values for each coefficient. An estimation of the number of HGVs re-routing to the BBFCC and the pollutant emissions avoided in the urban centre is appraised. The pollutant emissions reduction is based on factors drawn from the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Results suggest that the proposed approach may yield HGV movements avoided in Bristol city centre of 75.5% on average. Also, by considering the whole study period, reductions amount calculated is equivalent to 28,677 Kg of CO2, 122.29 Kg of NOx, 2.31 Kg of PM10, 20.32 Kg of CO and 9,854 Kg of fuel. Nevertheless, emissions reductions are significant, but currently limited by small scale, due to the low number of participants. Emissions reductions in the host cities are identified as a result of sharing delivery vehicles for the final leg. The regression model showed high correlation coefficient values (over 85%) for deliveries to the Bristol city centre thanks to the BBFCC. The linear regression models developed provide a useful tool for local authorities and logistics/transport planners in optimising the planning of UFCCs to reduce freight traffic, associated emissions and to improve logistics and transport performance.

Daniela Paddeu

Papers

Passenger comfort and trust on first-time use of a shared autonomous shuttle vehicle

The social perspective on policy towards local shared autonomous vehicle services (LSAVS)

The Bristol-Bath urban freight consolidation centre from the perspective of its users

Multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban freight consolidation schemes: Drivers and barriers to implementation

Reduced urban traffic and emissions within urban consolidation centre schemes: the case of Bristol