Autonomous Mobility Justice - Building Critical Awareness of a Sociotechnical Transition

Thumbnail Image

Files

isbn9789526039473.pdf (705.05 KB)
errata.pdf (44.18 KB)

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Engineering | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2020-06-26
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2020

Department

Rakennetun ympäristön laitos
Department of Built Environment

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

60 + app. 64

Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 101/2020

Abstract

The self-driving vehicle (SDV) represents a new era of vehicle systems, where part or all of thedriver's actions may be removed by means of a combination of new technologies. As data reshapestransport networks and geographies by creating new practices and markets, a sociotechnicaltransition to autonomous mobility has complex social, technical, economic and politicaldimensions, presenting urban planners, local and regional governments, research organizationsand society with unique challenges in mobility justice. This dissertation investigates autonomous mobility justice. Drawing from the body of researchon sociotechnical transitions, it investigates the transition from the perspective of the diverseecology of autonomous mobility intermediaries involved in or concerned by the transition inFinland, and its capital, Helsinki---representing the result of a Finnish innovation policy promotingthe development of digitalization and "smart economy". Inspired by a phronetic research approachin planning, and a revealing Danish investigation of shared mobility as a sociotechnical transition,the empirical part of the dissertation consists of 30 semistructured interviews with 31 Finnishintermediaries. Drawing from a theoretical frame that includes political theory of technology and a geographicalinterpretation of the Foucauldian conceptualization of modern power, a thematic analysis revealsthe power relations between self-driving vehicle technology, the built environment and institutionaland human actors in the transition. The dissertation finds the need for an expanded technological design horizon, that encompassesthe societal implications of the emerging technology. From the empirical enquiry, it finds that thesociotechnical transition may inscribe spatial rationalities of government and moralities on thebuilt environment that are indicative of mobility injustice. Moreover, it finds that while thetechnology has several domination transcripts, other intermediaries have expressed hiddentranscripts of resistance. The implications for planners and policy-makers are that autonomousvehicle technology may reshape the built environment, space and society in inperceptible waysbeyond just the street level.

Description

Supervising professor

Mäntysalo, Raine, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Built Environment, Finland

Keywords

self-driving vehicle, technology, power, intermediaries, spatial rationality

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Blyth, Pascale-L; Mladenovic´, Miloš N.; Nardi, Bonnie A.; Ekbia, Hamid R.; Su, Norman M. Expanding the Design Horizon for Self-Driving Vehicles: Distributing Benefits and Burdens. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 44–49, September 2016.
    DOI: 10.1109/MTS.2016.2593199 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Nielsen, Jesper Riber; Hovmøller, Harald; Blyth, Pascale-L.; Sovacool, Benjamin K. Of “White Crows” And “Cash Savers:” A Qualitative Study Of Travel Behavior And Perceptions Of Ridesharing In Denmark. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 78, 113–123, September 2015.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2015.04.033 View at publisher
  • [Publication 3]: Blyth, Pascale-L. Autonomous Mobility Justice in the Situated Finnish Context: A Foucauldian Perspective on Technology, Power, and Morality. Accepted for publication in Energy Research & Social Science, April 2020
  • [Publication 4]: Blyth, Pascale-L. Of Cyberliberation And Forbidden Fornication: Hidden Transcripts Of Autonomous Mobility in Finland. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 71, 236–247, June 2019.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201906033370
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2018.12.002 View at publisher
  • [Errata file]: Errata of P. 4

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-3947-3

Collections

[diss] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG