Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2023) | Viewed by 12375

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Peng Jing

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Transportation, Comprehensive Transport and Logistic Planning Institute, School of Automobile and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: travel behavior analysis; discrete choice modeling; transportation planning; simulation of transportation systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology marks the beginning of a new century. In the last few years, the industry has put significant effort into developing AVs. Meanwhile, the amount of research on AVs has grown tremendously. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise to have the potential to provide many benefits, such as improving mobility and reducing energy, the amount of emissions consumed, travel time, and vehicle ownership. AVs are expected to make a significant contribution to sustainable transportation. Furthermore, AVs are currently only used by a small percentage of the public and have not seen widespread adoption. The acceptance of new users also needs to be considered before the onset of the AV era. Recognizing the importance of AVs in sustainable transport and establishing user acceptance of AVs are critical to realizing their benefits.

We therefore call for papers addressing the acceptance of automated vehicles. Topics and themes for this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

(1) The conceptualization and measurement of AVs OR sustainable transportation;

(2) The relationship between AVs and sustainable transportation;

(3) Theoretical models and factors impacting AV acceptance;

(4) Individual-based differences in acceptance;

(5) Approaches to realizing the benefits of AVs;

(6) AVs and low carbon.

Dr. Peng Jing
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

connected and autonomous vehicles
self-driving
low carbon
sustainable transportation
AV acceptance or perception

Published Papers (7 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 2792 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Impact of Autonomous Vehicles on Traffic Flow in Rural and Urban Areas Using a Traffic Flow Simulator

by Makoto Fujiu, Yuma Morisaki and Jyunich Takayama

Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 658; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020658 - 11 Jan 2024

Viewed by 1046

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to significantly improve modes of transportation, and many businesses and research facilities are developing such systems. Although there are studies on the social implementation of autonomous vehicles, these studies are based on limited conditions such as predetermined driving environments. Therefore, in this study, we target urban areas and rural areas, and we simulate a behavioral algorithm for autonomous vehicles being developed and owned by Kanazawa University. In this study, a traffic flow simulation system (Aimsun) was constructed to reproduce the current situation of traffic flow in the city during normal times, using data from a person-trip survey conducted by the local government. In addition, we varied the mixing rate of automated vehicles and evaluated its effect on the delay time between ODs. We assume the gradual replacement of existing vehicles by autonomous vehicles on actual road networks and for realistic traffic volumes, and we investigate their impact on traffic flow. We vary the mixing rate of autonomous vehicles into actual traffic environments, and we measure the delay in the origin-destination (OD) interval to evaluate the impact of autonomous vehicles on traffic flow. The results obtained show that as the mixing rate of autonomous vehicles increases, the delay between OD intervals increases. Then, once the mixing rate exceeds a certain value, the delay between OD intervals gradually decreased. The delay time for all vehicles slightly increases as the mixing rate of autonomous vehicles increased from 10 to 45%. When the mixing rate increased from 45 to 50%, the delay time for all vehicles decreased notably, and when the mixing rate was 50 to 100%, it remained constant. Analytical results showed that when socially implementing autonomous vehicles, their mixing rate impacts the traffic flow; thus, there is a need to determine appropriate distribution scenarios and areas for implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 3792 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating Multidimensional Factors Influencing Switching Intention on School Bus among Chinese Parents—A Push–Pull–Mooring Framework

by Peng Jing, Ye Zha, Kewen Pan and Ying Xue

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7770; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107770 - 09 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1911

Abstract

School buses could alleviate the emissions associated with school travel. China is devoted to promoting its school bus service, leaving parents in a dynamic process of change from the original school travel mode to using the school bus service. This study analyzes parents’ switching intentions regarding school buses and decomposes the dimensions of certain critical factors by applying the Push–Pull–Mooring model. We conducted an online questionnaire survey of 463 parents. The measurement model result showed a satisfying prediction power, superior to that of existing theories. The results showed that perceived service quality is the most influential factor in the initial stage of school bus promotion. Among the four dimensions of perceived service quality, parents emphasize reliability and comfort. These results contribute to a deeper comprehension of parents’ intentions to switch to school bus services during the rollout phase and to ensuring sustainable school travel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

30 pages, 4216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

5G as an Enabler of Connected-and-Automated Mobility in European Cross-Border Corridors—A Market Assessment

by Dimitrios Rizopoulos, Marina Laskari, Gerasimos Kouloumbis, Ioanna Fergadiotou, Patrick Durkin, Kati Kõrbe Kaare and Muhammad Mahtab Alam

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14411; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114411 - 03 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2907

Abstract

5G systems are capable of facilitating remarkable technological advances and promoting sustainability in Internet-of-Things-centric fields, such as the Transport and Logistics (T&L) sector and applications in Connected-and-Automated Mobility (CAM). The current article provides an overview of the latest developments in the applications of the 5G mobile network standard in CAM and is specifically focused on analyzing existing and potential applications within European T&L corridors and subsequent markets. A focused marketplace analysis is conducteFd, highlighting the demands of commercialization clusters within European cross-border markets, as well as an analysis of how some of these demands can supplement the deployment of 5G products and services in the coming years. With the aim of providing a macro-level description of the landscape of 5G applications in CAM, the authors further discuss and classify the markets’ influencing factors according to the PESTEL framework, which is further enhanced to include the recent impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The findings display that while 5G is a crucial underlying technology for the establishment of CAM, several factors, such as international security, political coordination at the EU level, and common technological standards across EU member states, will have a central role in the successful deployment of its applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shared Autonomous Vehicles Competing with Shared Electric Bicycles: A Stated-Preference Analysis

by Sungwon Lee, Devon Farmer, Jooyoung Kim and Hyun Kim

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14319; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114319 - 02 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1390

Abstract

Understanding the factors that affect the uptake of emerging transport modes is critical for understanding if and how they will be used once they are implemented. In this study, we undertook a stated-preference analysis to understand the factors that affect the use of shared autonomous vehicles and shared personal mobility (micromobility) as competing modes on a university campus in Korea. We applied a binary logit model, which included time and cost variables as well as the perceptions of convenience (in-car congestion and availability) and safety. For autonomous vehicles, the cost- and time-related demand elasticities were estimated to be −0.45 and −0.25, respectively, while the cost elasticity for shared electric bicycles was −0.42. The elasticities of perceived convenience (availability) and safety for the shared electric bicycle system were estimated to be 0.72 and 0.29, respectively. Finally, the elasticity for perceived convenience (in-car congestion) of the shared autonomous vehicle was 0.42. Our results show that there is an innate preference for shared autonomous vehicles when these are compared to shared personal mobility, and that the effect of subjective variables (convenience and safety) on the use of emerging transport modes is as important as traditional cost and time variables. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Impacting Factors on the Public’s Attitudes towards Autonomous Vehicles Using Sentiment Analysis from Social Media Data

by Shengzhao Wang, Meitang Li, Bo Yu, Shan Bao and Yuren Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12186; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912186 - 26 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1456

Abstract

The attitudes of the public play a critical role in the acceptance, purchase, utilization, and research and development of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Currently, the attitudes of the public toward AVs have been mostly estimated through traditional survey data, which bears a low quantity of samples with high labor costs. It is probably also one of the reasons why the critical factors on the attitudes of the public toward AVs have not been studied from a comprehensive perspective yet. To address the issue, this study aims to propose a method by using large-scale social media data to investigate key factors that affect the attitudes of the public toward AVs. A total of 954,151 Twitter data related to AVs and 53 candidate independent variables from seven categories were extracted using the web scraping method. Then, sentiment analysis was used to measure the public attitudes towards AVs by calculating sentiment scores. Random forests algorithm was employed to preliminarily select candidate independent variables according to their importance and a linear mixed model was utilized to explore the impacting factors, considering the unobserved heterogeneities caused by the subjectivity level of tweets. The results showed that the attitudes of the public toward AVs were slightly optimistic. Factors, such as “drunk”, “blind spot”, and “mobility”, had the largest impacts on public attitudes. In addition, people were more likely to express positive feelings when talking about words, such as “lidar” and “Tesla”, related to high technologies. Conversely, factors, such as “COVID-19”, “pedestrian”, “sleepy”, and “highway”, were found to have significantly negative effects on the attitudes of the public. The findings of this study are beneficial for the development of AV technologies, the guidelines for AV-related policy formulation, and the understanding and acceptance of the public toward AVs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 3336 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Affecting the Parental Intention of Using AVs to Escort Children: An Integrated SEM–Hybrid Choice Model Approach

by Yueqi Mao, Qiang Mei, Peng Jing, Ye Zha, Ying Xue, Jiahui Huang, Danning Shao and Pan Luo

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11640; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811640 - 16 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1792

Abstract

Automated vehicle (AVs) technology is advancing at a rapid pace, offering new options for school travel. Parents play a decisive role in the choice of their child’s school travel mode. To enable primary and secondary school students to take AVs to and from school, it is necessary to understand the factors that affect parents’ intentions toward the new school travel mode. This study has three primary aims: (1) Discovering parents’ intentions to escort children by AV and their potential determinants. (2) Constructing the Hybrid Choice Model (HCM) to examine the effects of parents’ socioeconomic attributes, psychological factors, and travel attributes on using AVs to escort their children. (3) Raising practical implications to accelerate AV applications in school travel. The findings suggested that knowledge of AVs is the most important factor influencing parental intentions. Perceived usefulness, attitude, and perceived risk had significant effects on parental intentions. The direct effects of public engagement and perceived ease of use on parental intentions were not significant. Finally, this research can provide decision-making support for the government to formulate measures to promote AV application in school travel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Environmental Effect of Automated Vehicles Based on IVIULWG Operator Development

by Shuang Kan, Wei Lyu and Shiyu Zhao

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9669; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159669 - 05 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1070

Abstract

The automated vehicle (AV) industry is a new growing industry of great interest. The environmental friendliness of AVs represents a core characteristic of their leap-forward development. The environmental effect of AVs, including its evaluation framework and algorithm, is a leading research area for continued technological innovation and market development in this field. This study focuses on three environmental aspects: the energy effect of AVs, the traffic effect of AVs on ground space, and the air effect of AVs on three-dimensional atmospheric space. First, an environmental effect evaluation indicator system that includes nine indices for AVs is constructed to be the basis for management decision making. Second, the interval-valued intuitionistic uncertain fuzzy (IVIUF) evaluation variable is used to solve the problem of data features that incorporate “crisp numbers” and “fuzzy numbers”. Moreover, geometric weights are added based on the generalized correlation aggregation operator. Then, the IVIUL-weighted geometric (IVIULWG) operator is developed, which includes the objective and subjective information of “crisp numbers” and “fuzzy numbers” and makes the mathematical characteristics more scientific and accurate. Finally, an evaluation example is used to validate the effectiveness and practicability of the algorithm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation)

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Displaying articles 1-7

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (7 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI