The influence of an autonomous driving car operation on commuters’ departure times

Abstract

Studies on new transportation services such as autonomous taxis and autonomous shuttles are underway in various cities around the world. Most of these studies discuss the effects (e.g., vehicle miles traveled, travel time, delay rate, and so on) of introducing new modes of transportation. Research on the introducing autonomous taxis on commuters' departure times is limited. This study analyzed how closely commuters can get autonomous taxi services at the desired departure time. The departure times between using private cars and using autonomous taxis were compared to the commuters' desired departure times. For the comparison, it was assumed that all commuters use autonomous taxis instead of private cars. The results revealed that many commuters could not depart at the desired time and had to make adjustments to their time of departure. This result indicates that a travel reservation system or a dynamic pricing system will be required before autonomous taxis become popular.