Autonomous Vehicles for All?

The traditional build-and-expand approach cannot sustainably maintain safe roadway traffic, so technological solutions such as autonomous vehicles (AVs) are favored. AVs could increase road capacity, ease driving burdens, improve safety, expand mobility for non-drivers, and benefit the environment. However, they raise major social responsibility concerns around fairness, equity, and transparency. Regulators largely focus on safety, cybersecurity, privacy, and liability, leaving social responsibility under-addressed; developers are not required to embed fairness or equity, risking adverse bias in AI-based AV components (e.g., pedestrian detection bias under limited lighting) and exacerbating inequities through high costs and proprietary systems. AV user data may be misused by third parties, and AVs could disrupt labor markets by displacing driving-related jobs. The authors argue that academia, industry, and government must proactively ensure AVs serve all users and do not widen the digital divide.