Autonomous vehicle policies with equity implications: Patterns and gaps

•Without policy interventions, autonomous vehicles (AV) generate equity concerns.•Available policies cover access and inclusion, multimodal transportation, community wellbeing.•Policies addressing Shared AVs and the Economic impacts of AVs are most common.•Few policies on low-income people, people of color, rural communities, interpersonal security.•Governments should “dream big” and then tailor the policies to be context-specific. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) may improve or harm social equity for disadvantaged groups. Government agencies, planning organizations, businesses, and nonprofits have drafted or published an array of AV-related policies that have equity implications. Through a review of academic and grey literature, this study pioneers a comprehensive analysis of these policies in terms of patterns, frequencies and gaps. Our analysis shows that these policies can be grouped into three categories: access and inclusion, multimodal transportation, and community wellbeing. Regarding specific policies, considerations for a shared-use model and impacts to the economy dominate the policy landscape. Helping marginalized communities, urban parking, and automating transit are also prevalent policies. However, considerations for people with low incomes and people of color are not well represented, nor are personal security issues within shared vehicles, or models for deploying AVs in rural communities. Policymakers are beginning to plan for the potential equity impacts of AVs, but more opportunities remain for developing policies that will ensure the most equitable outcomes. This study elucidates the different types of policies with equity implications and provides planners and policymakers a base from which to draft their own policy.