Shared Automated Vehicle (SAV) Pilots and Automated Vehicle Policy in the U.S.: Current and Future Developments

Many automated vehicle (AV) developers and technology companies are fast pursuing the public deployment of these vehicles as part of a shared fleet. To the best of our knowledge, this chapter is the first comprehensive compilation of 17 active shared automated vehicle (SAV) pilot projects in the U.S., as of February 2018. This chapter also reviews AV regulatory efforts at the federal, state, and local levels. By tracking trends and classifying the differences between SAV pilots, we foster a better understanding of how this technology might roll out in the coming decades. While 30 states have enacted legislation or executive orders related to AVs, only two states’ regulations contain provisions related to SAVs. Although future impacts of SAVs are still uncertain, this chapter begins the dialogue around the need for proactive SAV legislation to help guide beneficial societal outcomes of these emerging services.