Governance of automated vehicle in the urban transport system: Insight from a willingness-to-use survey and Norwegian cultural context

•Novel interdisciplinary methodology to understand governance of AV in the urban transport system.•Workable governance approach for AV integration should allay fears of privacy loss and manage uncertainty.•Workable governance approach for AV integration should address pessimism about technological innovation and regard time-honoured traditions.•Less than half of Norwegians are willing to use AV in the Oslo region.•Combine ‘governing by doing’, ‘self-governing’ and ‘governing by enabling’ to increase willingness to use and support AV deployment in Norway. Automated vehicles (AV) can increase safety, reduce congestion, and provide environmental benefits to the urban transport system. Nonetheless, AV’s governance in the urban transport system is challenging. This paper proposes a novel interdisciplinary methodology and contributes to the governance debate from the ‘policy’ and ‘polity’ dimensions. We attempt to draw insight from the Norwegian cultural context and a willingness to use AV survey in Oslo, Norway. We then attempt to provide insight into the workable governance approach for AV deployment in the Oslo region, Norway. Our result suggests that less than half of the people in the Oslo region are willing to use AV. Based on our analytical insight, we argue that a workable governance approach for AV that will allay fears of privacy loss while making people feel safe and secure, manage uncertainty, pessimism about technological innovation, and embrace time-honoured Norwegian traditions should be considered to support the deployment of AV in Norway.