Collective transport automation in rural areas: Policy recommendations emerged from the RAAV project

Research on autonomous vehicles (AVs) in public transport predominantly focuses on urban areas, leaving rural contexts understudied. The "RAAV: Rural Accessibility & Automated Vehicles" project addresses this gap by exploring the deployment of AVs in rural collective transport and its potential accessibility implications. Five AV-based transport supply scenarios are designed in two rural areas, proposing autonomous bus lines, on-demand rideshare vans, and hybrid combinations of both across time and space. Their accessibility impacts are estimated using a modified space-time accessibility model, to highlight the most promising AV scenarios. Finally, a stakeholder integration process is conducted to complement the assessment of the AV scenarios and derive policy recommendations for those considered most preferable based on the accessibility model and stakeholder view. This paper summarises the key RAAV findings and focuses on the policy recommendations emerged at the process’s end. Results suggest that a comprehensive assessment of the AV scenarios and definition of recommendations can only be achieved by integrating accessibility model results with the findings from the stakeholder consultation, since they provide complementary viewpoints.