IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v64y2021ics0160791x20312914.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Talking about automated vehicles: What do levels of automation do?

Author

Listed:
  • Hopkins, Debbie
  • Schwanen, Tim

Abstract

Automated vehicles have become a popular topic of conversation. Initially, these conversations were limited to technology developers, innovators and engineers, as they worked to progressed the various technologies and systems that are required to create automated vehicles. Then, over time, these conversations extended to other communities; lawyers, insurers, planners, policymakers, social scientists, and various publics all began hearing, and talking about automated vehicles – also known as ‘driverless’, ‘self-driving’, and ‘autonomous’ vehicles. Levels of automation emerged as a way to depict gradations or categories of autonomy, with tasks divided between those for the machine and those for humans. In this paper, we critically reflect upon the dominance of levels of automation – up to seven sequential ‘steps’ - proposed by a number of industry organisations. Focusing on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Standard J3016, we signal the intended and unintended performative effects of these levels. We argue that current discourses on automated vehicles have been underpinned by a techno-centric, expert-dominated logic, and point to the benefits of more dispersed, geographically contingent, and socio-technical perspectives in re-framing the dominant discourse and allowing for more nuanced spatial and temporal understandings on future systems of (automated) mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Hopkins, Debbie & Schwanen, Tim, 2021. "Talking about automated vehicles: What do levels of automation do?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:64:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x20312914
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101488
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X20312914
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101488?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Schwanen, 2016. "Rethinking resilience as capacity to endure," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 152-160, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mamak, Kamil & Glanc, Jadwiga, 2022. "Problems with the prospective connected autonomous vehicles regulation: Finding a fair balance versus the instinct for self-preservation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Dasom Lee & David J. Hess, 2022. "Public concerns and connected and automated vehicles: safety, privacy, and data security," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Li, Dun & Huang, Youlin & Qian, Lixian, 2022. "Potential adoption of robotaxi service: The roles of perceived benefits to multiple stakeholders and environmental awareness," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 120-135.
    4. Amalia Polydoropoulou & Ioannis Tsouros & Nikolas Thomopoulos & Cristina Pronello & Arnór Elvarsson & Haraldur Sigþórsson & Nima Dadashzadeh & Kristina Stojmenova & Jaka Sodnik & Stelios Neophytou & D, 2021. "Who Is Willing to Share Their AV? Insights about Gender Differences among Seven Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Hamburger, Yair Amichai & Sela, Yaron & Kaufman, Sharon & Wellingstein, Tamar & Stein, Noy & Sivan, Joel, 2022. "Personality and the autonomous vehicle: Overcoming psychological barriers to the driverless car," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Agrawal, Shubham & Schuster, Amy M. & Britt, Noah & Mack, Elizabeth A. & Tidwell, Michael L. & Cotten, Shelia R., 2023. "Building on the past to help prepare the workforce for the future with automated vehicles: A systematic review of automated passenger vehicle deployment timelines," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Hopkins, Debbie & Schwanen, Tim, 2023. "Sociotechnical expectations of vehicle automation in the UK trucking sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    8. Jack Stilgoe & Miloš Mladenović, 2022. "The politics of autonomous vehicles," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-6, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schwanen, Tim, 2019. "Transport geography, climate change and space: opportunity for new thinking," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Hoffmann, Sebastian & Weyer, Johannes & Longen, Jessica, 2017. "Discontinuation of the automobility regime? An integrated approach to multi-level governance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 391-408.
    3. Verlinghieri, Ersilia, 2020. "Learning from the grassroots: A resourcefulness-based worldview for transport planning," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 364-377.
    4. Greg Marsden, & Jillian Anable, & Chatterton, Tim & Docherty, Iain & Faulconbridge, James & Murray, Lesley & Roby, Helen & Shires, Jeremy, 2020. "Studying disruptive events: Innovations in behaviour, opportunities for lower carbon transport policy?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 89-101.
    5. Hopkins, Debbie & Stephenson, Janet, 2016. "The replication and reduction of automobility: Findings from Aotearoa New Zealand," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 92-101.
    6. Sandra Mandic & Erika Ikeda & Tom Stewart & Nicholas Garrett & Debbie Hopkins & Jennifer S. Mindell & El Shadan Tautolo & Melody Smith, 2020. "Sociodemographic and Built Environment Associates of Travel to School by Car among New Zealand Adolescents: Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Wells, Peter & Wang, Xiaobei & Wang, Liqiao & Liu, Haokun & Orsato, Renato, 2020. "More friends than foes? The impact of automobility-as-a-service on the incumbent automotive industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Bergman, Noam & Schwanen, Tim & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2017. "Imagined people, behaviour and future mobility: Insights from visions of electric vehicles and car clubs in the United Kingdom," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 165-173.
    9. Debbie Hopkins & Enrique García Bengoechea & Sandra Mandic, 2021. "Adolescents and their aspirations for private car-based transport," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 67-93, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:64:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x20312914. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.