Advancing Automated and Connected Vehicles: Policy and Planning Strategies for State and Local Transportation Agencies (2017) / Chapter Skim
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21 C h a p t e r 4 This chapter identifies and presents assessments of 18 policy and planning strategies that states or localities could implement that would incentivize the development of AVs and CVs in ways that maximize benefits to society by influencing private-sector decisions. Many different policy and planning strategies were reviewed and analyzed to identify the ones presented here.
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22 • Political acceptability (e.g., stakeholder, equity, and political considerations, including winners and losers, disruptive or incremental change, and unintended consequences)
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23 efficacy of such measures to actually attract AV testing to a given state or locality is unclear. Other external factors may play a larger role.
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24 action by state or local agencies to understand rulemaking, which would involve assigning resources to accept, review, and issue decisions on testing proposals. Effect on Implementing Entity Agencies will gain valuable institutional knowledge and experience with the new technologies.
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25 Potential Funding Sources The issue of a potential funding source is moot since a law proclaiming the legality of AVs has little to no costs. Benefits of Implementation The benefits to society from legislation to legalize AV testing are indirect and would be the result of the testing taking place, which could include safety, mobility, and environmental benefits.
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26 valuable institutional knowledge and experience with the new technologies. In considering priorities for investments, agencies testing CV infrastructure and applications are of particular importance for two reasons.
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27 barrier in some states. Training staff, developing interagency agreements, and actual testing could all prove challenging as well for directly funded testing activities.
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28 process (Anderson 2016)
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29 place, which could include safety, mobility, and environmental benefits. A previous FHWA analysis estimated that CV V2I safety applications alone could address crashes that result in $202 billion in economic losses each year (2013 dollars)
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30 particularly AV technologies. Florida enacted legislation in 2016 that removes the requirement for a driver to be present in an AV, though the law still requires that the vehicle's operator (defined as the person who initiates the vehicle's autonomous operation)
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31 AV Level 4/5 in particular may vastly increase the mobility options for people who are unable to drive or for whom driving is unacceptably high risk. By eliminating the need for an active human driver, full AVs may replace or alter the service model of traditional transit and paratransit services, improving overall mobility of these user groups.
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32 Applicable Ownership Model: Private, SAV In a private-ownership model, licensing and training requirements to operate V2V, V2I, and AV Level 3 would apply to individual owners/operators of a private vehicle. In an SAV model, licensing requirements for AV Level 3 would be analogous to those for a chauffeur license (with requirements determined at the state or municipal level)
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33 while others are driving vehicles with various degrees of automation. Impaired or distracted driving laws may not apply to vehicles that do not need a driver to be actively engaged but will still apply to less-automated vehicles.5 Eventually, less traffic law enforcement may be needed overall if a significant portion of the vehicle fleet is largely automated.
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34 trucking associations, and the taxi/ride-share industries. USDOT and partner/subsidiary agencies, including NHTSA and FMCSA, are also politically powerful stakeholders for driver licensing and training requirements.5 Strategy Disruption Driver Licensing Changes to licensing requirements have the potential to be very disruptive because CV/AV technologies in the overall vehicle fleet are not an all-or-nothing condition.
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35 Other Costs to Society Employment displacement is a concern for professions that rely on licensed drivers; for example, the potential elimination of driver's licenses for AV Level 4/5 vehicles may eliminate forhire and livery drivers as a profession. Urban sprawl is likely to increase with increased personal mobility, which will impact infrastructure costs and land values, as well as potentially increase total VMT (Isaac 2015)
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36 these technologies can enhance and/or improve the services they provide. For example, the American Public Transportation Association has adopted 12 principles for integrated mobility and disruptive technologies (Woodland 2015)
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37 Outreach and education about the possible environmental benefits of CV/AV technology can also increase the likelihood that consumers purchase vehicles with these technologies or install them as aftermarket features. While many consumers may be heeding the messages because of their desire to minimize their impact on the environment through driving, others may not be consciously aware that some technologies may indirectly have environmental benefits (e.g., traffic harmonization)
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38 could enhance credibility and build trust with the public. The public may see benefits associated with the public and private sectors working in partnership for greater societal benefits.
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39 ment of Transportation (FDOT) began an initiative as the result of legislation passed in 2012.
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40 Affected by Market Penetration Technical viability is not affected by market penetration of equipped vehicles, but public perception may be. As market penetration increases, exposure to the technologies increases.
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41 etal benefits of advancing these technologies are quantified, but it is impossible to estimate the benefits of implementation of a widespread public education campaign at this point. Bottom Line Assessment: AV and CV technologies have the potential to bring immense societal benefits but also pose new risks, both of which need to be made known to the general public to ensure market acceptance as well as safe operation.
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42 service and disenfranchising transit's captive riders.7 For these reasons, it benefits society if a public subsidy could also be used to target TNC service to first/last-mile connections to transit. In addition, many policy analysts have argued that TNCs could provide paratransit (or dial-a-ride)
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44 services in which the rider pays the first $2, the RTD pays the next $7, and the rider pays any fare over $9 (Burkhardt et al.
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45 Technological Considerations Assuming Level 4/5 automation is safely achieved, technical viability for SAV systems is not dependent per se upon market penetration (i.e., share of trips taken by SAVs) , provided that a minimum demand threshold for economic viability is met.
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46 General Description Transit benefits are a type of economic incentive provided to individuals to ride transit. They can be provided in one of two ways: as a direct subsidy and as a pre-tax benefit (meaning that the individual can use his or her own earnings to pay for the transit fare, but on a tax-exempt basis)
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47 Other Implementation Challenges Employer challenges are fairly minor: • Making decisions on how to implement transit benefits. • Establishing an enrollment process.
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48 card on a bus, a rail car, or an SAV; some validation would be needed to ensure that the rider is tapping the card upon entering and/or exiting the vehicle. A back-end system (such as ride-hailing services use)
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49 be covered in part by local governments or MPOs interested in the possibility of congestion reduction. Benefits of Implementation The main benefit would be continued encouragement of both transit use and SAV uptake.
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50 Applicable Ownership Model: Private, SAV Parking cash-out is effectively applied in both models as an incentive to reduce drive-alone commuting. Other Implementation Challenges Parking cash-out has been adopted in relatively few places.
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51 If a state or local agency wanted to encourage more employers to implement parking cash-out, it might provide subsidies to relieve the costs to the employer. Benefits of Implementation The main benefit, if the strategy is successful, is fewer people driving alone and probably less land devoted to parking (probably because nothing prevents employers from keeping the spaces and using them for non-employee parking; for example, an office building with ground-floor retail could offer parking cash-out to the office employees but make the spaces available to retail customers for a parking fee)
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52 might provide geo-coded transit maps to enable a mortgage provider to better delineate locations for LEMs) , or to promote the mortgages once available.
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53 ing (which would occur via LEMs because it would increase the number of borrowers who could afford a given house over the previous non-LEM number) tends to lead to price increases.
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54 provide first- and last-mile connections to mass transit. Incentivizing SAV use as a complement to transit would help to ensure that vehicle travel increases are minimized or reduced.
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55 Zoning -- including allowable land uses, building setbacks, and densities -- is almost always under the control of local governments and dictates what plans and projects can be developed in that jurisdiction. Conventional zoning tends to separate land uses; restrict density, heights, and lot sizes; and often designate parking minimums.
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56 ownership levels and decrease VMT growth, two trends that underscore existing land use development patterns. This would indirectly impact other externalities that occur as a result of driving, such as increased congestion and pollution.
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57 Parking Local zoning or development departments typically mandate parking, and changing parking requirements will incur the same challenges as TOD. Geographic Scale The implementation process to change land use and development codes is similar across different geographic settings.
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58 centers and transit hubs, and start planning for the bigger picture of how these services fit together and fit with SAVs. Stakeholder Effects TOD Stakeholders include property owners, developers, and local residents.
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59 compete with existing transit options, which could reduce funding for services that currently serve transit-captive riders. Politically Powerful Stakeholders Private developers are the party most impacted by changes to land use or development codes.
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60 SAV market. If SAVs are introduced, there may be an evolutionary period before a significant shift in travel habits or vehicle ownership would occur.
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61 would not be significantly increased. However, the implication that conventional land use patterns would shift with this type of planning would impose some costs on neighboring residents and society more broadly.
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62 (n.d.) estimated that the annual cost of parking facilities ranged from about $400 per acre (in suburban surface lots)
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63 will work to reduce travel demand by affixing a fee to all travel, incentivizing less travel or shorter trips. However, if an agency desires to promote the wider utilization of AV and CV systems, it might deploy an RUC over all vehicles with reduced rates for AVs and CVs, or it may simply levy an RUC on all vehicles that do not support AV and CV functions.
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64 on a schedule, with price for access being higher during periods of the day when volume is anticipated to be higher. In a dynamic pricing regime, price is set based on actual, observed volumes.
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65 cific state legislation. The collection of a statewide-level RUC would need to be done through the passage of state legislation that enables a designated state entity to operate and administer the charging system.
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66 be more effectively enforced under the SAV model, assuming that vehicles are equipped to assess and levy charges. Drivers will likely have the cost of any tolls (be it a statewide RUC, facility toll, or parking fee)
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67 if fees are set based on vehicular weight and emissions class to achieve environmental-related goals. General public opposition to pricing can lead to political opposition by elected officials.
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68 revenue. Cost for a given facility will depend on the size of the facility, type of facility (road, tunnel, bridge)
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69 General Description If autonomous and connected technology reduces the perceived responsibility of the individual driver, a no-fault approach to assigning financial responsibility for crashes may appear more attractive. Currently the law in about 12 states, the no-fault system allows crash victims to recover damages from their own auto insurers after a crash instead of having to seek recovery from another driver.
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70 Implementing Entities The state legislature would implement this strategy by passing a law that would govern insurance in the state. Legal Authority The legislature most likely has legal authority to enact a no-fault statute.
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71 Optimal Timing It is not especially time sensitive. Cost and Benefit Considerations Training costs would be necessary to teach courts, lawyers, consumers, and state insurance agencies how no-fault automobile insurance works.
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72 subsidizes existing vehicles and reduces the economic incentives for adoption of safer technology. One strategy then is to require motorists to carry more insurance.
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73 a national no-fault automobile insurance. However, this bill did not pass.
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74 primary barrier for widespread adoption of a technology or service is the relatively high entry price, for either producers or consumers. By providing a subsidy for CV technology, the effective price to produce and/or consume the technology is lowered, making it a more attractive and affordable option for a much wider market.
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75 rather than a public service model, so the USDOT CV program continues to develop along its course. Subsidizing CV technology, if it leads to wider and more rapid adoption, would ultimately benefit producers and consumers of the technology, as well as all levels of government; however, some groups would be negatively affected.
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76 Invest in CV Infrastructure Strategy Overview This strategy aims to provide investment in CV infrastructure to encourage the development and adoption of AV and CV technologies. General Description CV infrastructure primarily refers to DSRC radio equipment but can also refer to the supporting infrastructure needed for deployment, such as backhaul communications, CV data analytics, CV-equipped traffic signal controllers, etc.
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77 Geographic Scale Infrastructure investment for CV technologies can be implemented on a nationwide scale; however, initial implementation will likely be focused on urban environments. Applicable Ownership Model: Private, SAV This technology operates on a private service model, rather than a public service model, but it is yet to be seen how V2I will mature.
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78 Technological Considerations This strategy would greatly impact the development of CV infrastructure technology and traffic management software integration, and would provide an expanded avenue for participation of CVs within an overall integrated traffic system. Affected Market Penetration The technical viability of CV infrastructure is directly tied to CV market penetration levels; however, the utility of CV infrastructure could be realized with even low levels of CV market penetration.
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79 model, and could support reduction of VMT in the district, depending on the shared-ride requirements imposed. The private-sector decisions the strategy aims to influence are (from Tables 2 and 3 in Chapter 2)
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80 Other Implementation Challenges Additionally, many of the current MLs were constructed using bond financing and/or public-private partnerships, backstopped by toll revenue. Therefore, the financial documents (bond covenants)
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81 Florida showed a need for 20 percent market penetration on the MLs to achieve limited benefits and 60 percent to greatly reduce congestion (Qom and Hadi 2016)
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82 during periods with very little traffic, the traffic signal may be able to provide green for any approaching CV, saving time, fuel, and operating costs for those AVs and CVs, and mitigating congestion and emissions externalities. Applicable Technologies All levels of connectivity and automation could benefit from this as long as there was connectivity in the infrastructure.
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83 Cost and Benefit Considerations For traffic signals, there will be some cost of software improvements so that the traffic signal controller can minimize total traffic delay based on the calls for priority. Potential Funding Sources Funding would come from current operating budgets.
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84 use SAVs, thereby increasing the numbers of AVs and CVs and realizing their safety, congestion, and environmental benefits. Applicable Technologies This strategy relates to AVs (SAE Levels 3–5)
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85 Cost and Benefit Considerations The direct cost to implement is unlikely to be high since priority access to parking for CV/AVs is a policy change. The cost would be in analyzing the options and public involvement to institute a change in parking codes.
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86 particularly effective at the state and local levels, with state DOTs and regional MPOs driving the planning process overall and maintaining control over the project while shifting some of the cost and risk to private enterprises. Recently, state and local transportation agencies in Hawaii, New York, and Massachusetts announced P3s for various transportation development projects related to rail lines and station upgrades.
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87 aid state and local transportation organizations with activities such as maintenance scheduling, current operations management, and future infrastructure investment planning. Similarly, private-sector stakeholders stand to benefit from P3 arrangements in many ways depending on the nature of the specific project.
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