From Test Tracks to Carbon Tracks: Evaluating the Carbon Emissions of Autonomous Vehicle Development

Autonomous vehicle (AV) development has seen a sharp increase in the past 10 years, and there is a significant energy cost of training AVs to meet safety regulations. The training process includes virtual simulation training as well as physical training on public roads and within private testing facilities. The high energy expenditure associated with AV training has a respective environmental cost that can be quantified as a lifetime “carbon debt” of released carbon emissions. The environmental sustainability of AVs has not been thoroughly studied in currently available literature, and this paper showcases a model that quantifies the total “carbon debt” and payback timeline based on efficiency levels for a specific corporation or for the global AV market. A case study of Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors (GM) and leader in AV development, suggests that in order to meet GM’s publicized 2040 operational net-neutrality goals, Cruise’s AVs must be a minimum of 2.6% more efficient than non-AVs (Figure 5).