The long-term effects of autonomous cars on land use, access and travel

PTRG has won a prestigious Australian Research Council Discovery Grant in cooperation with the Monash Urban Lab.

The Project

Historically new transport technologies have significantly changed urban form in Australian cities with important business, economic, congestion, social and environmental impacts. Autonomous cars are said to revolutionise tomorrows transport but no research has yet considered long term impacts on land use and city structure. This project explores how land use and travel will change adopting innovative land use and transport models. Outcomes will better prepare Australia for an autonomous travel future.

Autonomous vehicles are a major world trend which will significantly impact Australian communities. Current research is focused on autonomous vehicle technology and short-term benefits (reduced crashes, congestion relief). This project explores long-term disruptive effects with a focus on land use and travel impacts to ensure wider social, economic and environmental impacts are better managed. Findings from this project will help Australian cities prepare for the long-term disruptions of autonomous vehicles.

The project will commenced in 2022 for a period of three years.  The research will include:

• Primary research using stated preference methods to estimate a value of travel time in AV’s to generate an accessibility calculation function
• Modelling of  AV induced urban growth to information land use policy
• Calibrating and operating a transport model to assess land use induced travel demand with AV’s

The Team

This project is led by Professor Graham Currie, Director of PTRG and Associate Professor Liton Kamruzzaman, of the Monash Urban Lab. Two PhD researchers will assist in the research including:

• PhD Researcher Fuad Huda – A transport focused PhD researcher, based in PTRG to work on stated choice experiments
• PhD Researcher Allan Pimenta – A land use transport modelling PhD researcher, based at the Monash Urban Lab to undertake accessibility modelling with and without AV’s

Research Outputs

The following research outputs have been published to date:

1. Huda F, Currie G and Kamruzzaman L (2023) Understanding the value of autonomous vehicles – an empirical meta-synthesis, Transport Reviews, DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2023.2189324
2. Pimenta AR Kamruzzaman M and Currie G (In Press) “Long-term effects of autonomous vehicles on the built environment: a systematic scoping review towards conceptual frameworks” Transport Reviews DOI: 1080/01441647.2023.2189325