External effects of urban automated vehicles on sustainability

The transport sector is responsible for an important share of pollutant emissions, and urban mobility systems are facing major challenges, such as congestion and parking needs. Automated vehicles are expected to mitigate effects of this kind, and may positively affect the sustainability of the mobility sector. We quantify the external effects of human-driven battery electric vehicles in comparison to automated ones, regarding external costs for urban areas in Germany. In our analysis we focus on environmental, social and economic external cost components. We find that vehicle automation can lower external costs by 34%, suggesting savings of 51.6 billion euros per year for Germany alone, with congestion and parking space costs accounting for the largest share of costs and savings. Our results provide an understanding of the magnitude of the external effects of automated vehicles, conducting sensitivity analyses and additionally discussing the impact of travel behavior.