For UC Berkeley’s Shaheen, cycle-sharing schemes are part of a wider shift in habits.
“We’ve seen a number of innovations today in the developed world including e-scooters and bike sharing and car sharing and on-demand transit services like Uber and Lyft,” she explained.
“We’re also seeing a lot more focus on shared, automated vehicles,” she added.
While there is excitement surrounding the potential of autonomous vehicles, concerns have been raised with regards to safety. In March 2018, for example, one of ride-hailing powerhouse Uber’s self driving vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.
Shaheen went on to state that in order to encourage a wider uptake of automated vehicles, focus needed to be placed on public safety and the perception of autonomous transport’s safety.
“Right now, a lot of members of the public are not convinced they want to get into an automated vehicle,” she added. “What would really help is to do a lot more testing on public roads.”
