Governance cultures and sociotechnical imaginaries of self-driving vehicle technology

Governance cultures and sociotechnical imaginaries of self-driving vehicle technology: Comparative analysis of Finland, UK and Germany

Mladenović, Miloš N. (Aalto University)
Stead, D. (TU Delft Spatial Planning and Strategy)
Milakis, Dimitris (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR))
Pangbourne, Kate (University of Leeds)
Givoni, Moshe (Tel Aviv University)

Milakis, Dimitris (editor)
Thomopoulos, Nikolas (editor)
van Wee, Bert (editor)

2020

As an emerging technology, the potential deployment of self-driving vehicles (SDVs) in cities is attributed with significant uncertainties and anticipated consequences requiring responsible governance of innovation processes. Despite a growing number of studies on policies and governance arrangements for managing the introduction of SDVs, there is a gap in understanding about country-specific governance strategies and approaches. This chapter addresses this gap by presenting a comparative analysis of SDV-related policy documents in Finland, UK, and Germany, three countries which are actively seeking to promote the introduction of SDVs and which have distinct administrative traditions. Our analytical framework is based on the set of premises about technology as a complex sociotechnical phenomenon, operationalized using governance cultures and sociotechnical imaginaries concepts. Our comparative policy document analysis focuses on the assumed roles for SDV technology, the identified domains and mechanisms of governance, and the assumed actors responsible for steering the development process. The results highlight similarities in pro-automation values across three different countries, while also uncovering important differences outside the domain of traditional transport policy instruments. In addition, the results identify different types of potential technological determinism, which could restrict opportunities for responsiveness and divergent visions of mobility futures in Europe. Concluding with a warning against further depolitization of technological development and a dominant focus on economic growth, we identify several necessary directions for further developing governance and experimentation processes.

Automated driving
Automated vehicle
Connected vehicles
Smart mobility governance
Transport policy

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:969ed62c-9870-4c99-a6f4-34cc1da10a7c

https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.atpp.2020.01.001

Elsevier

2020-07-27

9780128201916

Policy Implications of Autonomous Vehicles, 5

Advances in Transport Policy and Planning, 2543-0009, 5

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

book chapter

© 2020 Miloš N. Mladenović, D. Stead, Dimitris Milakis, Kate Pangbourne, Moshe Givoni