Autonomous Vehicle Good Citizenry Standard

Overview

New York City is moving toward a more efficient, safer, and sustainable future that includes autonomous vehicles for transit, e-commerce, and medical transport. However, autonomy
often runs on incomplete or flawed foundations: training data sets might not prepare vehicles to “see” people of color; transit shuttles may operate without safety considerations for
women, frequent targets of sexual harassment on transit; delivery pods might be sharing personal data with several third parties. Although the City will regulate vehicle safety and efficacy on the street, autonomous mobility must be evaluated under more ambitious and holistic standards. The Responsible Autonomous Mobility (RAM) Framework aims to identify partnership in several areas, including:

  • Safe and accessible for users of all genders, income levels, and abilities
  • Equitably deployed across neighborhoods, especially those will low transit availability
  • Responsible use of data, especially when potentially exposing individuals’ immigration, religious or other private information to third parties — – in particular, taking open mobility data standards and examining how they can accommodate under-represented populations
  • Adaptable to aging infrastructure, particularly in flood zones and in the event of power outages
  • Providers are committed to retraining for job displacement
  • Trained on data that includes a diversity of users RAM is based on the LEED certificate, which standardized sustainability metrics and was designed with a range of stakeholders.

Research Objectives & Deliverables

The Responsible Autonomous Mobility framework development will consist of:

  • A literature review to identify areas of under-representation in autonomous vehicles
  • Hosting three workshops, consisting of policymakers, subject matter experts, and industry leaders to work toward identifying solutions and areas of need and opportunity
  • Taking an existing mobility data specification and identifying revisions to accommodate under-represented populations
  • Writing a framework that coalesces the topics identified during the workshop
  • Distributing the framework widely across the industry and governance

At the conclusion of this project, a framework for Responsible Autonomous Mobility in New York City will be developed.

Personnel

Sarah Kaufman

Professor Sarah Kaufman

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Joseph Chow

Professor Joseph Chow

CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Haggai Davis III

STUDENT RESEARCHER

Principal InvestigatorSarah Kaufman
Funding SourceC2SMART
Total Project Cost$88,522
USDOT Award #69A3551747124 
Implementation of Research OutcomesThe expert interviews and stakeholder workshops will result in a framework for AV policy for New York City, including recommendations for policymakers to improve mobility across safety, sustainability, and responsible use of data. The research outcomes will be disseminated on the NYU Rudin Center and C2SMART websites and disseminated directly to transportation leaders.
Impacts/Benefits of ImplementationThe research results of this project will help policymakers to better understand the larger policy issues inherent in autonomous vehicles’ learning and behavior. This work will benefit planners developing transit, such as safety mechanisms for driverless transit, ensuring driver job training programs, and ensuring access for unbanked New
Yorkers. The NYU Rudin Center will conduct outreach to local officials with results.

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