How Autonomous Driving May Affect the Value of Travel Time Savings for Commuting

TLDR

Autonomous driving is seen as a promising solution for transportation issues, potentially allowing high‑mileage commuters to use travel time for other activities, yet empirical data on its impact on mode choice remain scarce. This study investigates how autonomous driving affects the value of travel time savings (VTTS) and mode choices for commuters through stated‑choice experiments. Using two use cases—privately owned and shared autonomous vehicles—compared with other modes, the authors applied a mixed logit model to analyze collected choice data. Results show that in‑vehicle time and cost drive mode choice, autonomous driving can reduce VTTS by 31% for private vehicles and is perceived 10% less negatively for shared vehicles, providing empirical evidence for future research.

Abstract

Autonomous driving is being discussed as a promising solution for transportation-related issues and might bring some improvement for users of the system. For instance, especially high mileage commuters might compensate for some of their time spent traveling as they will be able to undertake other activities while going to work. At the same time, there are still many uncertainties and little empirical data on the impact of autonomous driving on mode choices. This study addresses the impact of autonomous driving on value of travel time savings (VTTS) and mode choices for commuting trips using stated-choice experiments. Two use cases were addressed – a privately owned, and a shared autonomous vehicle – compared with other modes of transportation. The collected data were analyzed by performing a mixed logit model. The results show that mode-related factors such as time elements, especially in-vehicle time and cost, play a crucial role for mode choices that include autonomous vehicles. The study provides empirical evidence that autonomous driving may lead to a reduction in VTTS for commuting trips. It was found that driving autonomously in a privately owned vehicle might reduce the VTTS by 31% compared with driving manually, and is perceived similarly to in-vehicle time in public transportation. Furthermore, riding in a shared autonomous vehicle is perceived 10% less negatively than driving manually. The study provides important insights into VTTS by autonomous driving for commuting trips and could be a base for future research to build upon.