SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California, as a technological hub for innovation, should support the continued research and development of automated vehicle technology, as it has the potential to provide enormous environmental, economic, and social equity benefits.
(b) Automated vehicle technology is also poised to transform California’s entire transportation system, affecting both mobility and land use patterns across the state.
(c) Depending on how automated vehicle technology develops, this technology could help California attain its greenhouse gas reduction and air quality improvement goals or could potentially hinder them.
(d) According to research conducted by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Davis, automated vehicles will make travel less onerous, which could increase vehicle travel by 15 to 20 percent by 2050. This would contribute to more greenhouse gas emissions.
(e) An increase in vehicle miles traveled by automated vehicles could lead to increased traffic congestion and sprawl, effects that could impact regions, cities, and neighborhoods disproportionately.
(f) Research funded through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 20-102, Impacts of Connected Vehicles and Automated Vehicles on State and Local Transportation Agencies, confirmed that automated vehicles will lead to changes in land use patterns that could either support or undermine efforts to fight climate change and reduce sprawl and vehicle miles traveled.
(g) According to research conducted by the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, active transportation (walking and bicycling) makes an important potential contribution to the reduction of vehicle miles traveled while also creating significant health benefits. Evidence also indicates that a barrier to increased active transportation is fear of being struck by a motor vehicle. Therefore, a primary goal of automated vehicles should be to reduce the risk of harm to those undertaking active transportation.
(h) Negative impacts resulting from automated vehicles can be mitigated and, in some cases, eliminated if policies are adopted to guide their development and use. Strategies include commercializing automated electric vehicles, minimizing private vehicle ownership, encouraging ride sharing, and expanding high-quality public transportation and infrastructure and programs for active transportation.
(i) Research from the University of California at Davis has shown that widespread on-demand travel, when supported by substantial ride sharing and electric vehicles, can reduce car travel by over 50 percent, reduce carbon emissions from transportation by 80 percent, and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure and operations by 40 percent by 2050.
(j) To ensure automated vehicle technology fulfills the promise of environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social equity for all Californians, the state must further research the potential externalities of automated vehicles and develop policy recommendations that fully mitigate negative impacts without hindering the development of the technology.