Simulating impacts of Automated Mobility-on-Demand on accessibility and residential relocation

Automated vehicles (AVs) have great potential to revolutionize the transportation sector and landscapes of future cities. The impacts of AVs on urban space, however, are far from clear. Mobility-on-Demand (MOD) services, on the other hand, are readily available in many places. This study seeks to explore (1) how Automated Mobility-on-Demand (AMOD) might affect urban residents' levels of accessibility and their residential relocation decisions; and (2) how these impacts might vary across space and socioeconomic groups. We use an agent-based microsimulation platform to assess two future AMOD scenarios in Singapore relative to a baseline. Results suggest that the addition of AMOD could enhance the overall accessibility of the population, but not if private transport modes, including private cars, taxis, and human-driven on-demand services, are prohibited. On the other hand, if private modes are eliminated, AMOD could alleviate inequality in accessibility as it appears to benefit the disadvantaged socioeconomic groups to a larger extent. We also find that AMOD deployment would not induce outward migration, nor would it increase home-work location imbalance. This study demonstrates how large-scale microsimulation can be leveraged to assess AMOD scenarios. The findings have some implications for preparing for the inevitable and potentially disruptive emergence of AVs. •AMOD services could improve individual accessibility but they could not make up for the loss of private modes.•AMOD could alleviate inequality in accessibility, if private modes were eliminated.•AMOD deployment would not induce outward migration, nor would it increase home-work location imbalance.•Large-scale microsimulation can be leveraged to assess AMOD scenarios.