Fifteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society

Abstract

Carpt is a concept for an autonomous platform, designed for an emerging moment of transition between traditional transit and autonomous vehicle use. Autonomous vehicles are being touted as the future of transportation, but large-scale adoption of self-driving technology will not be seamless: from consumer behavior to civic infrastructure, interwoven systems shape the transportation landscape. Carpt can help facilitate flexible movement within this landscape. Our concept positions Carpt in the relatively near future, in a period when autonomous driving technology is available and safe; some people own autonomous vehicles, but most don’t; and some cities or areas have restricted vehicle use to self-driving cars. This transition period will create a complex ecosystem in which human-driven and fully autonomous vehicles share space, presenting challenges for drivers, vehicle companies, and policymakers. We conceptualized a fleet of on-demand autonomous platforms, on which traditional vehicles could be easily mounted and transported. This modularity would allow users to nimbly move between transit modes, driving their car themselves or using the Carpt platform based on their needs. Over the course of our research and prototyping process, we came to envision this platform as the center of an ecosystem of services that would serve diverse stakeholders, from individual travelers on long-distance drives to companies shipping and delivering goods. These insights informed our work in developing core features of the Carpt concept, incorporating flexible hardware and a user-friendly app.