Open lecture with Iain Docherty: Future of connected and autonomous vehicles and potential threats to public transport systems

Visions of the future in which a ‘shared’ mobility model made possible by CAVs predominates are largely producer-led, high technology ‘solutions’ to the mobility problem in which ever more mobility is supplied by more efficient use and sharing of small, essentially private vehicles. There is considerable urgency to this debate because most public transport systems require (significant) revenue subsidy and are therefore exposed to significant short run political and policy risk from disruptive innovators seeking to capture their current passenger base. More broadly, there is as yet relatively little discussion of the wider impacts of the potential reduction in the ‘publicness’ of transport systems in terms of how changing patterns of mobility in future will restructure cities, the extent to which public transport networks and systems as we have come to know them will continue to be viable, and ultimately how the character or civitas of cities will change as a result of the connected and autonomous vehicles revolution.

Iain Docherty BSc PhD FRGS FRSA FICE FHEA CMILT is Professor of Public Policy and Governance and Director of External Engagement at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School. Iain’s research and teaching addresses the interconnecting issues of public administration, institutional change and city and regional competitiveness, with particular emphasis on the structures and processes of local and regional governance, policies for delivering improved economic performance and environmental sustainability, and the development and implementation of strategic planning and transport policies. His total research and consultancy awards exceed £2.5 million. Iain has worked with and advised a range of private sector, governmental and other organisations including governments and public agencies in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and Sweden, and the OECD. In 2015 he was appointed by the ESRC and Innovate UK as one of five Thought Leaders working to integrate scientific innovation and social science research across the UK, and he is currently one of the Co-Investigators managing the £1.2m ESRC Productivity Insights Network, which aims to bring together leading social science academics to help address the UK economy’s resilient productivity gap. His other current appointments include Non-Executive Director of the ScotRail Operating Board, Deputy Chair of the Glasgow Connectivity Commission and a member of the Scottish Ministers’ Governance Board overseeing the revised National Transport Strategy.