Transportation Technology & Society Research Group

MISSION

The mission of TTS is to conduct transdisciplinary research to help guide the implementation of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and other mobility innovations that are rapidly emerging. Our goal is to to promote a more efficient, healthier, and more equitable urban mobility future.

TTS is a collaboration between the College of Liberal Arts, the School of Law, and the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut and began in January 2017 with funding from the Provost’s Academic Plan Award.

VISION

The increased testing of fully autonomous vehicles (AVs)–self-driving cars–has prompted intense speculation in the media that this technology is going to revolutionize society. Some of the discussion frames the widespread adoption of AVs as “inevitable” and urges people to ready themselves for this disruption. Instead, we recognize that the technology could be adopted in different ways, leading to a range of outcomes.

Our collaboration of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines are able to address some of the complex impacts to society of AVs, as well as a whole host of other emerging transportation technologies. Our goal is to work with stakeholders from outside of academia to generate use-inspired policy-relevant research to guide decision-making about AVs and other innovations.