Aalborg Universitet

Denmark

Which are the organisation’s thematic competences and experiences relevant for ART-Forum?

Aalborg University (AAU) specializes in research within mobilities and urban studies, along with a holistic approach to the interplays between humans, designed environments and technologies. With this, AAU reviews and analyzes the latest research published on autonomous vehicles and a sustainable urban mobility transition, facilitate research-based workshops, and collect our own data from the current case-study of autonomous busses in the city of Aalborg. At AAU, we focus on interdisciplinary knowledge creation, where research is conducted and shared between different scientific fields and researchers. This provides a dynamic approach to the imagined futures with autonomous road transport, which involves looking at multiple practices, actors and initiatives.

What is the main role in ART-Forum?

AAU provides a critical overview of the challenges, risks and drawbacks that Autonomous Road Transport (ART) could entail for sustainable and just urban futures, along with a research-based understanding of the actions needed by various stakeholders if ART should enter our cities in a useful manner. AAU contributes with key insights into the complexity of mobility-systems and reflections on the sociotechnical impacts that ART can have on the city. Among other activities, we research the AV shuttle bus pilot that is currently running in Aalborg, with focus on the imbrications of people, city and technology. We e.g. look at mobility practices of AV bus passengers and the meeting between the bus and other mobile users of the route, user experiences – such as those of school children in the district, along with the social and cultural meanings of the busses and physical surroundings. Moreover, we are mapping the complexity of autonomous vehicles in cities worldwide, in terms of future implications for urban planning, equality, environment, safety, ethics etc.

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