Spatial and Transport impacts of Automated Driving (STAD)

Automated driving is expected to drastically change the mobility of passengers and freight and spatial structure during the coming decades. Public and private parties need to redefine their strategic decision making in light of these changes, but information on potential impacts is lacking. This project will study the implications of automated driving using a wider spatial and temporal scope than previous research. The project is based on an integrated approach combining spatial economics, passenger and freight transport, traffic safety and multimodal transport networks. Integration between these discipline is addressed by an integrated modelling approach, common case studies and pilots. The project will be conducted in collaboration with pilots in the Netherlands such as Automated taxis (Delft-Zuid), WePod (Ede Wageningen), Rivium (Rotterdam) and the port of Rotterdam as well as abroad. The project will be conducted by research groups of Delft University of Technology (consortium leader), Free University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Eindhoven University of Technology and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. The project will be conducted in close cooperation with non- academic partners from the Southern Wing of the Randstad, which comprises cities such as Rotterdam, The Hague and Delft, as well as the port of Rotterdam. Amsterdam, the province of Gelderland, consultancies, public transport operators and knowledge institutes such as TNO, SWOV are contributing to the project as well. The Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and Environment is aiming for a leading international role in testing automated vehicles and is strongly supporting the proposed project