Hazel Lim

Towards Autonomous Vehicles in Smart Cities: Risks and Risk Governance

Springer eBooks, 2021

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly proposed as a solution towards addressing urbanisation... more Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly proposed as a solution towards addressing urbanisation challenges in smart city initiatives, such as congestion, pollution, road safety and transport accessibility. However, their socio-economic and environmental benefits can be hampered by new technological risks emerging from their use. This chapter explores some of the major risks associated with AV adoption that need to be addressed to reap the technology’s full benefits. AVs can introduce safety risks arising from technical issues in the AV system and ethical issues in their design and deployment. In addition, socio-economic equity is a key aspect of sustainability, which can be undermined by AVs displacing jobs in existing industries, as well as by their discriminatory driving decisions shaped by algorithmic biases and the value-laden design choices of AV stakeholders. AVs’ connected nature also poses privacy and cybersecurity risks that can dampen consumer acceptance. After exploring these issues, we discuss some of the governance strategies adopted to address these risks and highlight the gaps in research and practice that need to be addressed.

Towards Autonomous Vehicles in Smart Cities: Risks and Risk Governance

Towards Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Highways, 2021

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly proposed as a solution towards addressing urbanisation... more Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly proposed as a solution towards addressing urbanisation challenges in smart city initiatives, such as congestion, pollution, road safety and transport accessibility. However, their socio-economic and environmental benefits can be hampered by new technological risks emerging from their use. This chapter explores some of the major risks associated with AV adoption that need to be addressed to reap the technology’s full benefits. AVs can introduce safety risks arising from technical issues in the AV system and ethical issues in their design and deployment. In addition, socio-economic equity is a key aspect of sustainability, which can be undermined by AVs displacing jobs in existing industries, as well as by their discriminatory driving decisions shaped by algorithmic biases and the value-laden design choices of AV stakeholders. AVs’ connected nature also poses privacy and cybersecurity risks that can dampen consumer acceptance. After exploring these issues, we discuss some of the governance strategies adopted to address these risks and highlight the gaps in research and practice that need to be addressed.

Algorithmic Decision-Making in AVs: Understanding Ethical and Technical Concerns for Smart Cities

Sustainability, 2019

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are increasingly embraced around the world to advance smart mobility an... more Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are increasingly embraced around the world to advance smart mobility and more broadly, smart, and sustainable cities. Algorithms form the basis of decision-making in AVs, allowing them to perform driving tasks autonomously, efficiently, and more safely than human drivers and offering various economic, social, and environmental benefits. However, algorithmic decision-making in AVs can also introduce new issues that create new safety risks and perpetuate discrimination. We identify bias, ethics, and perverse incentives as key ethical issues in the AV algorithms’ decision-making that can create new safety risks and discriminatory outcomes. Technical issues in the AVs’ perception, decision-making and control algorithms, limitations of existing AV testing and verification methods, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities can also undermine the performance of the AV system. This article investigates the ethical and technical concerns surrounding algorithmic decision-mak...

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Governing autonomous vehicles: emerging responses for safety, liability, privacy, cybersecurity, and industry risks

Transport Reviews, 2018

The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns about t... more The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns about the extent of these benefits and AV risks and unintended consequences. In this article, we first examine AVs and different categories of the technological risks associated with them. We then explore strategies that can be adopted to address these risks, and explore emerging responses by governments for addressing AV risks. Our analyses reveal that, thus far, governments have in most instances avoided stringent measures in order to promote AV developments and the majority of responses are non-binding and focus on creating councils or working groups to better explore AV implications. The US has been active in introducing legislations to address issues related to privacy and cybersecurity. The UK and Germany, in particular, have enacted laws to address liability issues; other countries mostly acknowledge these issues, but have yet to implement specific strategies. To address privacy and cybersecurity risks strategies ranging from introduction or amendment of non-AV specific legislation to creating working groups have been adopted. Much less attention has been paid to issues such as environmental and employment risks, although a few governments have begun programmes to retrain workers who might be negatively affected.

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Autonomous Vehicles for Smart and Sustainable Cities: An In-Depth Exploration of Privacy and Cybersecurity Implications

Energies, 2018

Amidst rapid urban development, sustainable transportation solutions are required to meet the inc... more Amidst rapid urban development, sustainable transportation solutions are required to meet the increasing demands for mobility whilst mitigating the potentially negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. This study analyses autonomous vehicles (AVs) as a potential transportation solution for smart and sustainable development. We identified privacy and cybersecurity risks of AVs as crucial to the development of smart and sustainable cities and examined the steps taken by governments around the world to address these risks. We highlight the literature that supports why AVs are essential for smart and sustainable development. We then identify the aspects of privacy and cybersecurity in AVs that are important for smart and sustainable development. Lastly, we review the efforts taken by federal governments in the US,

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Emerging governance responses to risks associated with autonomous vehicles

by Araz 𝖳aeihagh and Hazel Lim

25th Word Congress of Political Science, Jul 23, 2018

The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns regardi... more The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns regarding the extent of the benefits they bring as well as their risks and unintended consequences. In this article, we first examine AVs and different categories of the technological risks associated with adoption of fully autonomous vehicles. We then explore different types of strategies that can be adopted by governments to address these different types of technological risks introduced by AVs. We then explore various governance responses to these risks in different countries. Our analyses reveal that thus far, in most instances governments have avoided stringent measures with the aim of promoting AV developments. As AV developments are still in early stages, the majority of governance responses are non-binding and focused on creating councils or working groups to better explore the implications of AVs at this stage. United States has been active in introducing and enacting AV-specific legislations to address issues related to safety, liability, privacy, and cybersecurity. UK and Germany, in particular, have enacted laws to address liability issues while other countries mostly acknowledge these issues but have yet to implement specific strategies. To address privacy risks, data privacy laws not specific to AVs have been amended in some countries while other countries have decided to rely on existing laws or have made recommendations on privacy principles. Similarly, a wide range of strategies varying from introduction or amendment of non-AV specific legislation to creating working groups and funding research to better explore issues and make recommendations have been adopted. Much less attention has been paid to addressing risks to employment and other issues.

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Algorithmic Decision-Making in AVs: Understanding Ethical and Technical Concerns for Smart Cities

by Hazel Lim and Araz 𝖳aeihagh

Sustainability, 2019

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are increasingly embraced around the world to advance smart mobility an... more Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are increasingly embraced around the world to advance smart mobility and more broadly, smart, and sustainable cities. Algorithms form the basis of decision-making in AVs, allowing them to perform driving tasks autonomously, efficiently, and more safely than human drivers and offering various economic, social, and environmental benefits. However, algorithmic decision-making in AVs can also introduce new issues that create new safety risks and perpetuate discrimination. We identify bias, ethics, and perverse incentives as key ethical issues in the AV algorithms' decision-making that can create new safety risks and discriminatory outcomes. Technical issues in the AVs' perception, decision-making and control algorithms, limitations of existing AV testing and verification methods, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities can also undermine the performance of the AV system. This article investigates the ethical and technical concerns surrounding algorithmic decision-making in AVs by exploring how driving decisions can perpetuate discrimination and create new safety risks for the public. We discuss steps taken to address these issues, highlight the existing research gaps and the need to mitigate these issues through the design of AV's algorithms and of policies and regulations to fully realise AVs' benefits for smart and sustainable cities.

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Governing autonomous vehicles: emerging responses for safety, liability, privacy, cybersecurity, and industry risks

by Araz 𝖳aeihagh and Hazel Lim

The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns about t... more The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns about the extent of these benefits and AV risks and unintended consequences. In this article, we first examine AVs and different categories of the technological risks associated with them. We then explore strategies that can be adopted to address these risks, and explore emerging responses by governments for addressing AV risks. Our analyses reveal that, thus far, governments have in most instances avoided stringent measures in order to promote AV developments and the majority of responses are non-binding and focus on creating councils or working groups to better explore AV implications. The US has been active in introducing legislations to address issues related to privacy and cybersecurity. The UK and Germany, in particular, have enacted laws to address liability issues; other countries mostly acknowledge these issues, but have yet to implement specific strategies. To address privacy and cybersecurity risks strategies ranging from introduction or amendment of non-AV specific legislation to creating working groups have been adopted. Much less attention has been paid to issues such as environmental and employment risks, although a few governments have begun programmes to retrain workers who might be negatively affected.

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Autonomous Vehicles for Smart and Sustainable Cities: An In-Depth Exploration of Privacy and Cybersecurity Implications

by Hazel Lim and Araz 𝖳aeihagh

Amidst rapid urban development, sustainable transportation solutions are required to meet the inc... more Amidst rapid urban development, sustainable transportation solutions are required to meet the increasing demands for mobility whilst mitigating the potentially negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. This study analyses autonomous vehicles (AVs) as a potential transportation solution for smart and sustainable development. We identified privacy and cybersecurity risks of AVs as crucial to the development of smart and sustainable cities and examined the steps taken by governments around the world to address these risks. We highlight the literature that supports why AVs are essential for smart and sustainable development. We then identify the aspects of privacy and cybersecurity in AVs that are important for smart and sustainable development. Lastly, we review the efforts taken by the federal government in the US, the UK, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, France, and the EU, and by US state governments to address AV-related privacy and cybersecurity risks in-depth. Overall, the actions taken by governments to address privacy risks are mainly in the form of regulations or voluntary guidelines. To address cybersecurity risks, governments have mostly resorted to regulations that are not specific to AVs and are conducting research and fostering research collaborations with the private sector.

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