Social Impact Assessment: Changing Mobility Behaviour by Understanding Customer Needs and Attitudes

This chapter presents results from the AVENUE social impact assessment. The assessment focuses on the social impacts of the deployment of automated minibuses in the four official AVENUE cities: Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Geneva, and Lyon. The following studies have been conducted: (1) a qualitative study on mobility needs, mobility gaps, and expectations on automated minibuses in the pilot site Nordhavn, in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as in a potential replicator site in Singen, Germany; (2) a quantitative, representative study on mobility behaviour, attitudes on automated minibuses, and social acceptance of automated minibuses in the four AVENUE cities; and (3) a study on user experiences of passengers of the automated minibuses service in Nordhavn, Copenhagen. This social impact assessment revealed that the majority of citizens have not yet adopted a clear position towards automated minibuses (AM) but rather a positive, open-minded (benevolent) attitude. As there are no stable attitudes yet, there is a possibility to influence (nudge) preferences through well-targeted communication campaigns. The willingness to use the automated minibus service is higher when it is offered on-demand, door-to-door, integrated into a public transport system. The automated minibus is considered as an alternative to the use of their private car, with 45% of car drivers ‘willing’ (22%) or even ‘very willing’ (23%) to give up using their own car to use automated minibuses to bridge the first and the last mile. In addition, users of the automated minibus are generally satisfied with this experience, which even leads to increasing acceptance and a reduction of perceived risks compared to non-users. An important prerequisite for users to shift from using their private car to an automated minibus service is to increase flexibility of use by providing an on-demand, door-to-door service. If an automated minibus is integrated into the urban public and private transport system, it has the potential to become a real game changer for urban mobility. The integration of automated minibuses therefore represents a real system innovation that takes into account the mobility needs of potential users.