Beyond these direct benefits, wecan consider the wider implications for transport and society, and howmanufacturing processes might need to respond as a result. At present, theaverage car spends more than 90 percent of its life parked. Automation meansthat initiatives for car-sharing become much more viable, particularly in urbanareas with significant travel demand. If a significant proportion of thepopulation choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be metby far fewer vehicles.The Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology investigated automated mobility in Singapore, finding that fewerthan 30 percent of the vehicles currently used would be required if fullyautomated car sharing could be implemented. If this is the case, it might meanthat we need to manufacture far fewer vehicles to meet demand. However, thenumber of trips being taken would probably increase, partly because emptyvehicles would have to be moved from one customer to the next.QuestionWhat potential challenge is mentioned regarding the increased use ofshared automated vehicles in urban areas?Answer areaLimited travel demand.Difficulty in implementing automated systems.Increased manufacturing costs.The need to move empty vehicles between customers.

Question 29+1Tag to RevisitThe automotive sector is well usedto adapting to automation in manufacturing. The implementation of robotic carmanufacture from the 1970s onwards led to significant cost savings andimprovements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. Anew challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comesfrom automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturingprocess, but with the vehicles themselves.Research projects on vehicleautomation are not new. Vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities havebeen around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant contributionstowards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that ithad been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress inthis field has quickly gathered pace.QuestionWhen did the acceleration of progress in self-driving technology begin,according to the passage?Answer areaIn the 1970sIn 2010.Over the last 50 years.Since the implementation of robotic car manufacture.

What would you do if you could magically reclaim all the time you spend behind the wheel of a car? If you could sit back and relax, knowing that your commute is safer than ever before? Ultimately that’s the future that autonomous vehicles1 are promising.Development of automated driving is far enough along for people to start thinking about what drivers would do with all that free time were it available. Some people imagine sending their cars to pick up milk from the store, having the family car drive little Emily to her soccer practice, or getting into pajamas and curling up to sleep during an overnight long-distance drive.It’s hard to know, though, what people will really do once self-driving cars are common. Part of the problem, of course, is that we don’t yet know what the technology will be capable of and how much it will cost. What we do know is that autonomous vehicles are on their way to being a safe alternative to human-operated vehicles. Autonomous cars will not experience frustration or become tired after a long trip, hopefully resulting in safer roads and fewer accidents. In a recent paper, my co-authors and I tried to figure out what might change in a world of self-driving cars by looking at how people use their time. We found groups of people who might save large amounts of time by using self-driving cars and identified what they might do with all that spare time.The lessons of tracking time[5]Governments and researchers around the world study how people use their time by asking people to fill out time diaries: lists of what activities they do, where and with whom, from when they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night. Survey makers work hard to get a representative sample of the population.In the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics gathers around 11,000 daily time diaries each year. A co-author and I have previously used these data to identify wide variations in how much time Americans spend watching television: 14% of the population watches 7.7 hours a day!Because time diaries document what people are doing now, using them to explore potential future changes stemming from radical shifts in technology and lifestyle is difficult. For our research, we identified groups of people who might save the most time if they used autonomous vehicles, and imagined their lives becoming more like those who drive less.Giving commuters a breakFor instance, we looked at commuters who drive for long periods to and from work. Many U.S. workers drive a lot: 19 million drive 2.5 hours a day. In contrast, 78 million other workers drive about one hour a day. The differences in time diaries from members of each group suggest that the people who drive longer do less of other activities to make time to commute.People who drive longer get 30 minutes less sleep, watch TV a half-hour less, and do 30 minutes less work than their counterparts who drive less. If an autonomous vehicle were available, those long-duration drivers would presumably be very interested in catching up on sleep, favorite TV programs, and perhaps even some work.[10]There are also public transit riders who spend a very long time traveling each day. About 1 million people spend a whopping 3.8 hours a day riding buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transit. Another 3.8 million spend 1.8 hours on transit vehicles. Though they can use mobile devices, people who spend more time on transit are, like the drivers, sacrificing sleep, TV watching, and work to get the extra travel time.Helping people who can’t driveAutonomous vehicles can also help people get around if they’re unable to drive — for instance, because they’re too young, too elderly, or otherwise medically or physically restricted from driving.When we looked at elderly people, we compared differences in how retirees older than 75 use their time, compared to younger retirees between ages 60 and 75. The older group travels 14 minutes less each day than their younger counterparts. They also shop 7 minutes less and socialize 8 minutes less each day. That adds up to around 30 minutes a day less time outside of the home, much of which is spent sleeping more.It may be many years before it’s clear how people will change their lives to adapt to the advent2 of autonomous vehicles. And the societal changes in traffic, commerce, and media consumption may take even longer to measure. But our research suggests there are plenty of activities people might want to take up to fill the time they now spend driving or in transit. Personally, once autonomous vehicles are available and safe, I look forward to taking my hands off the wheel to enjoy the view and let my mind wander.

Highlights•The paper reviews recent studies on the effects of automated vehicles on the physical road environment.•Thirteen key topics regarding the effects of AVs have been identified.•Predicted required changes and challenges related to road infrastructure are presented.•Recommendations for future research directions are outlined.AbstractAutomated vehicles (AVs) have received intense attention in academia and industry around the world in recent years, but the imminent introduction of AVs brings new challenges and opportunities for transportation networks and built environments. It is important to understand the potential infrastructure-related requirements of AVs and their impact on road infrastructure in order to assess the readiness of the existing road network and prepare plans for future roads. This paper seeks to address what the implications of automated vehicles will likely be for the road infrastructure based on a comprehensive literature review. To investigate this issue, two broad questions were framed: What are the potential effects of AVs on physical road infrastructure; and What do AVs require from road infrastructure for safe driving. A total of thirteen key topics around infrastructure have been identified from the existing literature regarding vehicle automation that needs to be considered during either the initial phase of deployment or transition to full automation. In the light of the identified topics, the paper presents potential changes and challenges, making recommendations for future research directions to ensure a safe and efficient operation.

A. The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in manufacturing. The implementation of robotic car manufacture from the 1970s onwards led to significant cost savings and improvements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. A new challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comes from automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturing process, but with the vehicles themselves.Research projects on vehicle automation are not new. Vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities have been around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant contributions towards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that it had been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress in this field has quickly gathered pace.B. There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast. One frequently cited motive is safety; indeed, research at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory has demonstrated that more than 90 percent of road collisions involve human error as a contributory factor, and it is the primary cause in the vast majority. Automation may help to reduce the incidence of this.Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes. If the vehicle can do some or all of the driving, it may be possible to be productive, to socialise or simply to relax while automation systems have responsibility for safe control of the vehicle. If the vehicle can do the driving, those who are challenged by existing mobility models – such as older or disabled travellers – may be able to enjoy significantly greater travel autonomy.C. Beyond these direct benefits, we can consider the wider implications for transport and society, and how manufacturing processes might need to respond as a result. At present, the average car spends more than 90 percent of its life parked. Automation means that initiatives for car-sharing become much more viable, particularly in urban areas with significant travel demand. If a significant proportion of the population choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be met by far fewer vehicles.D. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated automated mobility in Singapore, finding that fewer than 30 percent of the vehicles currently used would be required if fully automated car sharing could be implemented. If this is the case, it might mean that we need to manufacture far fewer vehicles to meet demand. However, the number of trips being taken would probably increase, partly because empty vehicles would have to be moved from one customer to the next.Modelling work by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute suggests automated vehicles might reduce vehicle ownership by 43 percent, but that vehicles’ average annual mileage double as a result. As a consequence, each vehicle would be used more intensively, and might need replacing sooner. This faster rate of turnover may mean that vehicle production will not necessarily decreaseE. Automation may prompt other changes in vehicle manufacture. If we move to a model where consumers are tending not to own a single vehicle but to purchase access to a range of vehicle through a mobility provider, drivers will have the freedom to select one that best suits their needs for a particular journey, rather than making a compromise across all their requirements.Since, for most of the time, most of the seats in most cars are unoccupied, this may boost production of a smaller, more efficient range of vehicles that suit the needs of individuals. Specialised vehicles may then be available for exceptional journeys, such as going on a family camping trip or helping a son or daughter move to university.F. There are a number of hurdles to overcome in delivering automated vehicles to our roads. These include the technical difficulties in ensuring that the vehicle works reliably in the infinite range of traffic, weather and road situations it might encounter; the regulatory challenges in understanding how liability and enforcement might change when drivers are no longer essential for vehicle operation; and the societal changes that may be required for communities to trust and accept automated vehicles as being a valuable part of the mobility landscape.G. It’s clear that there are many challenges that need to be addressed but, through robust and targeted research, these can most probably be conquered within the next 10 years. Mobility will change in such potentially significant ways and in association with so many other technological developments, such as telepresence and virtual reality, that it is hard to make concrete predictions about the future. However, one thing is certain: change is coming, and the need to be flexible in response to this will be vital for those involved in manufacturing the vehicles that will deliver future mobility.

The automotive sector is well usedto adapting to automation in manufacturing. The implementation of robotic carmanufacture from the 1970s onwards led to significant cost savings andimprovements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. Anew challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comesfrom automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturingprocess, but with the vehicles themselves.Research projects on vehicleautomation are not new. Vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities havebeen around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant contributionstowards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that ithad been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress inthis field has quickly gathered pace.QuestionWhat distinguishes the current challenge in the automotive sector fromthe previous adaptations to automation?Answer areaThe implementation of robotic car manufacture.The introduction of self-driving vehicles.The reliance on driver assistance systems.The cost savings in vehicle mass production.