Noah Wexler, PhD Student, Public Policy, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Title

Public Attitudes and Preferences Toward a Hypothetical Future System of Shared Automated Vehicles - Ryuichi Kitamura Award for the Best Paper authored by a student

Time

1:40pm - 3:00pm

Location

Remote

Abstract

We use data from an originally designed survey instrument administered in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area to gauge general attitudes and design preferences for a hypothetical shared automated vehicle (SAV) system. Design considerations include seating, payment and booking logistics, security, and extra space and amenities. We pay particular attention to the role of gender, race, health, and income in shaping these attitudes and preferences. Specifically, we use multiple regression models to uncover general willingness-to-use SAV technology, finding that women are overall less comfortable with the technology, Black and Hispanic participants are more willing to pay for SAV technology and generally display lower magnitude preferences for design considerations. Although results are mixed in both sets of analysis for health status, higher income individuals display higher willingness to pay and higher magnitude preferences for design considerations.

Biographical Sketch

Noah was born and raised in Broward County, Florida. Before coming to the Humphrey School, he earned a BA in Economics and International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington, DC. In undergrad, he was active in student labor organizing and anti-gentrification organizing in DC. During and after undergrad, he worked in an after-school youth center as a “jack of all trades,” cooking snacks, keeping attendance, running billiards tournaments, and teaching music production classes. Noah’s research focuses on the economics of housing and transportation inequality in cities, with a secondary interest in race, class, and gender disparities in the criminal legal system. As a primarily quantitative researcher, he specializes in using econometric methods and causal inference to understand how public policy and public institutions affect marginalized communities. In his free time, Noah bikes, produces music, and is involved in community organizing.