The Economics of Carpooling, Road Pricing, and Autonomous Transportation

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This project funds new work in economics that will consider how to best implement three different and complementary transportation technologies. The first is time-sensitive variable tolls (already in use in some areas). The second is mobile ride-sharing apps seamlessly match a driver with additional passengers (to create instant carpools). The third is autonomous passenger vehicles. These technologies are interdependent in many ways, and understanding the likely effects of these technologies requires answers to many different questions. How should tolls be set? How should carpools be created? How much should carpooling passengers pay for the ride? How should the tolls paid depend on the number of passengers in a car? The researcher will use techniques from game theory and economics to answer these questions. Because traffic congestion is a major concern in many urban areas this project will help us understand how to use new technologies to solve an important problem that affects the health of regional economies around the United States.The framework used in the formal modelling blends ideas from coalition formation games (riders form coalitions to carpool and share costs) and competitive equilibrium (road prices are set at levels that clear the market). The framework incorporates interactions between the two components. Tolls impact which carpooling coalitions get formed; in turn, the carpooling coalition formation process impacts the demand for roads. The project also contributes to empirical economics. It will jointly characterize efficient tolls and efficient carpooling arrangements in a unifying framework. The new framework will facilitate and enable the analysis of a variety of other applied questions in transportation economics. The team will also use the framework to conduct simulations of various transportation policies and evaluate the effects on economic welfare and other desired social goals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.