Pilot project purgatory? Assessing automated vehicle pilot projects in U.S. cities

Pilot projects have emerged in cities globally as a way to experiment with smart mobility and emerging transportation technologies. Automated vehicles (AVs) have become central to these experiments as city governments and industry explore potential impacts. This paper presents a large-scale assessment of AV pilot projects in U.S. cities to understand how pilots are used to examine risks and benefits, integrate AVs into conventional policy and planning, and what cities are learning about the technology’s opportunities and risks. Through interviews with planning practitioners and document analysis, we find approaches differ significantly and often lack coherent policy goals. Key findings include: (1) a disconnect between pilot project goals and city transportation goals; (2) lack of a long-term vision for AVs within future mobility systems; (3) overemphasis on non-transportation benefits; (4) limited policy learning and iteration; and (5) limited leveraging of pilots for public benefits. While planners are interested in using AVs to address transportation challenges, current AV pilot projects have limited value for informing transportation policy and planning and may constrain the ability to rethink transportation systems amid rapid technological change.