The main objective of work package 3 of LEVITATE is to develop a broad set of methods for predicting the societal impacts of connected and automated vehicles. This is a multistage process, with the following main stages:
- Identify potential impacts of connected and automated vehicles and classify these impacts
- Define indicators for the measurement of the impacts
- Propose methods for predicting impacts
- Convert impacts to a common metric in terms of monetary valuations of the impacts
- Propose methods for cost-benefit analysis of policy interventions designed to ensure that societal benefits of connected and automated vehicles are maximised.
The first two of these stages were completed in deliverable D3.1 of LEVITATE. It lists a total of 33 potential impacts of connected and automated vehicles. The impacts were classified along two dimensions:
- Their extent in space and time
- Whether they are intended or unintended
A distinction was made between direct impacts, which occur immediately and are noticed by each road user on each trip; systematic impacts, which are aggregate impacts occurring within the transport system; and wider impacts, which may originate within the transport system, but mainly occur outside it, in other sectors of society.