Can autonomy make bicycle-sharing systems more sustainable? Environmental impact analysis of an emerging mobility technology

TL;DR

This study evaluates the potential environmental benefits of autonomous bicycles in shared systems, showing significant reductions in impact per passenger kilometer compared to traditional systems, depending on usage and infrastructure needs.

Contribution

It provides the first environmental impact assessment of autonomous shared bicycles, highlighting their potential to improve sustainability in urban mobility.

Findings

Autonomous bikes could reduce environmental impact by up to 58%.

Impact depends mainly on vehicle usage rates and infrastructure requirements.

Targeting mode shift from more polluting modes enhances sustainability benefits.

Abstract

Autonomous bicycles have recently been proposed as a new and more efficient approach to bicycle-sharing systems (BSS), but the corresponding environmental implications remain unresearched. Conducting environmental impact assessments at an early technological stage is critical to influencing the design and, ultimately, environmental impacts of a system. Consequently, this paper aims to assess the environmental impact of autonomous shared bikes compared with current station-based and dockless systems under different sets of modeling hypotheses and mode-shift scenarios. The results indicate that autonomy could reduce the environmental impact per passenger kilometer traveled of current station-based and dockless BSS by 33.1 % and 58.0 %. The sensitivity analysis shows that the environmental impact of autonomous shared bicycles will mainly depend on vehicle usage rates and the need for infrastructure. Finally, this study highlights the importance of targeting the mode replacement from more polluting modes, especially as traditional mobility modes decarbonize and become more efficient.