Stakeholders meeting
A “Stakeholders Meeting” was held on the 11th of December 2019 in the premises of Newcastle University.
Stakeholders were from taxi companies, city councils and innovation centers. The meeting was organised in three sections of 45min each, with 7.5 min break in between.
The takeovers from the meeting are:
In a near future autonomous mobility will exist so it is important to know how the individuals, companies and institutions are going to adapt to this change.
All participants usually associate autonomous vehicles with electric vehicles.
Taxi companies are mostly concerned about business changes and acceptance of automated taxis by the customers.
Public institutions (Councils) consider automated taxis like other normal vehicles in the road and because they do not see investment on them an area of priority.
Innovation centers see a very high potential for new business model, research opportunities and for a new mobility paradigm.
To implement Automated Taxis in Newcastle, the following aspects need to be addressed:
Safety conditions: customers need the help of a human being if something happens (technology fails). It is difficult to control what the customer damage the vehicle. Smart infrastructures are more susceptible to be attacked by cybercriminals.
The technology itself: what happen if a road is closed? if the vehicle cannot find an address? if the customer damages the vehicle? how easily these vehicles can adapt to the changes within the city?
Bespoke services: many taxi customers require a customized service that human drivers can provide (luggage, people with disabilities, children, etc). Automated taxis cannot replace bespoke services.
Taxi company operating conditions: Are Automated Taxis operating 24/7? What is the cost of adopting the new technology?
Implementation of infrastructures: automated vehicles can be an opportunity in terms of reducing parking spaces and give more public space for walking and cycling.
Laws/regulations: taxi regulations and mobility in cities is mainly controlled by local governments. Automated vehicles are going to be controlled by national governments.
Policies and equity issues: automated taxis can be restricted to young (acceptation of new technologies), males (safety) and highly educated people. Public policies, especially from the councils, should be designed in order to guarantee the access of all social strata to this new mobility.
Ethics: all participants express concerns about ethical problems. Conflicts of interest between the car passengers and pedestrian and cyclists. “The technology has to decide who dies and who lives". An accident in an automated taxi could be fatal for the business.
