About Us

The adoption of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is forecasted to bring about widespread changes to the transportation industry, people in driving occupations, and society. To understand the nature of these changes and help the affected parties prepare, our research team proposed and received funding from the National Science Foundation for WEAVE (Preparing the Future Workforce for the Era of Automated VEhicles).

WEAVE is conducting a multi-year research agenda on the workforce impacts of AVs. It is composed of faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students in fields including sociology, communication, geography, organizational psychology, engineering, and urban planning. Our team members are located at Michigan State University and Clemson University.

Background

We are rapidly approaching an era of digital mobility in which people and products will be transported by fully autonomous vehicles (AVs), also known as self-driving cars. With AVs, the vehicle, rather than the user, detects and responds to objects and events. The transition to AVs will have economic and societal impacts on the workforce, the ways we train future workers, and the ways we build, manage, and use transportation systems.

The expected benefits of AVs include the potential to reduce traffic and accidents and increase the independence of people who are elderly or disabled. However, AVs pose societal concerns that need to be understood and addressed to avoid a tumultuous transition. A prime concern is that AVs may lead to a dramatic shift in many sectors of the workforce. AV adoption will likely lead to layoffs in the transportation sector and will necessitate that employees change how they perform their jobs in sectors that use vehicles. AVs will also create new labor opportunities in businesses that develop and find innovative uses for them.

In effect, the diffusion and adoption of AVs will result in major changes in driving occupations, the transportation industry, and society. Our research team is working to study the effects of AV adoption on these different areas through multiple projects and research methods.

Watch this video for a quick overview of our project

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