Reduced value of time for autonomous vehicle users: Myth or reality?

Abstract We provide a framework of alternative underlying explanations and hypotheses related to the value of travel time changes caused by the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles (AVs). This framework supports a scenario-based approach for infrastructure planning based on various assumptions about the value of AV travel time. The main focus of this paper is on how the value of time may remain unchanged or even increase with the advent of AVs. This is in sharp contrast to existing views about how meaningful positive utility will be associated with traveling in AVs. In future, as field data reveals behavioral changes related to AV adoption, the most appropriate hypothesis within the framework will be validated and refined for future planning and system management. The framework proposed in this paper is supported by justifications from existing and emerging theoretical concepts and hypotheses, as well as a meta-analysis extracted from contemporary but isolated reports in the literature about the possibility that AV use will increase the value of travel time.

[1]  P. Rosenzweig.  The halo effect : -- and the eight other business delusions that deceive managers , 2007 .

[2]  Phil Goodwin.  The Influence of Technologies and Lifestyle on the Value of Time , 2019, International Transport Forum Discussion Papers.

[3]  Yousef Maknoon,et al.  A Time-use Model for the Automated Vehicle-era , 2018, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.

[4]  Nobuaki Ohmori,et al.  How Different Are Activities While Commuting By Train? A Case In Tokyo , 2008 .

[5]  M. B. Johnson.  TRAVEL TIME AND THE PRICE OF LEISURE , 1966 .

[6]  Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia,et al.  Potential Changes in Value of Travel Time as a Result of Vehicle Automation: a Case Study in the Netherlands , 2018 .

[7]  Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia,et al.  On the impact of vehicle automation on the value of travel time while performing work and leisure activities in a car: Theoretical insights and results from a stated preference survey , 2019, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.

[8]  Sergio R. Jara-Díaz,et al.  Transport and time use: The values of leisure, work and travel , 2020 .

[9]  H. Gunn,et al.  SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL TRANSFERABILITY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TRAVEL DEMAND, TRIP COST AND TRAVEL TIME , 2001 .

[10]  Rico Krueger,et al.  Preferences for shared autonomous vehicles , 2016 .

[11]  Maria Börjesson,et al.  The Gothenburg congestion charges: cost–benefit analysis and distribution effects , 2020 .

[12]  A. Deserpa.  A Theory of the Economics of Time , 1971 .

[13]  G. Becker,et al.  A Theory of the Allocation of Time , 1965 .

[14]  Patricia L. Mokhtarian,et al.  Do Multitasking Millennials Value Travel Time Differently? A Revealed Preference Study of Northern California Commuters , 2017 .

[15]  David Zuby,et al.  Collision Avoidance Features: Initial Results , 2013 .

[16]  Harry Timmermans,et al.  Scobit-Based Panel Analysis of Multitasking Behavior of Public Transport Users , 2010 .

[17]  Debbie A. Niemeier,et al.  Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives , 1997 .

[18]  Mogens Fosgerau.  Automation and the Value of Time in Passenger Transport , 2019, International Transport Forum Discussion Papers.

[19]  Suzanne Childress,et al.  Using an Activity-Based Model to Explore the Potential Impacts of Automated Vehicles , 2015 .

[20]  Kenneth A. Perrine,et al.  Anticipating long-distance travel shifts due to self-driving vehicles , 2020, Journal of Transport Geography.

[21]  David Meunier.  Mobility Practices, Value of Time and Transport Appraisal , 2020 .

[22]  I. Bateman,et al.  A Test of the Theory of Reference-Dependent Preferences , 1997 .

[23]  R. Thaler,et al.  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness , 2008 .

[24]  Randi Hjorthol,et al.  Working on the train: from ‘dead time’ to productive and vital time , 2012 .

[25]  Viktoriya Kolarova,et al.  Assessing the effect of autonomous driving on value of travel time savings: A comparison between current and future preferences , 2019, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.

[26]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Managing the Paradoxes of Mobile Technology , 2005, Inf. Syst. Manag..

[27]  Kenneth A. Small,et al.  Valuation of Travel Time , 2012 .

[28]  Kay W. Axhausen.  Moving through nets: An Introduction , 2007 .

[29]  Rico Krueger,et al.  Autonomous driving and residential location preferences: Evidence from a stated choice survey , 2019, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.

[30]  C. A. Guevara,et al.  BEHIND THE SUBJECTIVE VALUE OF TRAVEL TIME SAVINGS: THE PERCEPTION OF WORK, LEISURE AND TRAVEL. , 2001 .

[31]  Bart van Arem,et al.  Preferences of travellers for using automated vehicles as last mile public transport of multimodal train trips , 2016 .

[32]  Sergio R. Jara-Díaz,et al.  ON THE SOCIAL VALUATION OF TRAVEL TIME SAVINGS. , 1998 .

[33]  P. Mackie,et al.  THE VALUE OF TRAVEL TIME SAVINGS IN EVALUATION , 2001 .

[34]  Joshua Auld,et al.  Analysis of the Effects of Connected–Automated Vehicle Technologies on Travel Demand , 2017 .

[35]  Patrick A. Singleton,et al.  Discussing the “positive utilities” of autonomous vehicles: will travellers really use their time productively? , 2019 .

[36]  Maria Börjesson,et al.  On the income elasticity of the value of travel time , 2012 .

[37]  Joan L. Walker,et al.  Nudging people towards more sustainable residential choice decisions: an intervention based on focalism and visualization , 2015, Transportation.

[38]  Don MacKenzie,et al.  Would being driven by others affect the value of travel time? Ridehailing as an analogy for automated vehicles , 2019, Transportation.

[39]  C. Oort,et al.  THE EVALUATION OF TRAVELLING TIME , 1969 .

[40]  Ahsan Haider,et al.  What we know and do not know about connected and autonomous vehicles , 2020, Transportmetrica A: Transport Science.

[41]  J. Bates,et al.  How should business travel time savings be valued , 2015 .

[42]  David A. Hensher.  Urban Transport Economics , 1977 .