The Economics of Carpooling, Road Pricing, and Autonomous Transportation

该项目资助了经济学方面的新工作，该工作将考虑如何最好地实施三种不同和互补的交通技术。第一种是对时间敏感的可变通行费(已经在一些地区使用)。第二种是移动拼车应用将司机与额外乘客无缝匹配(以创建即时拼车)。第三种是自动乘用车。这些技术在许多方面是相互依赖的，要了解这些技术可能产生的影响，需要回答许多不同的问题。收费应如何厘定？应该如何创建合伙用车？拼车乘客应该付多少钱？过路费应如何根据车厢内的乘客人数而定？研究人员将使用博弈论和经济学的技术来回答这些问题。由于交通拥堵是许多城市地区的一个主要问题，这个项目将帮助我们了解如何使用新技术来解决这个影响美国各地区域经济健康的重要问题。正式建模中使用的框架融合了联盟形成博弈(骑手组成联盟以拼车和分担成本)和竞争均衡(道路价格设定在清除市场的水平)中的思想。该框架结合了这两个组件之间的交互。通行费会影响拼车联盟的形成，而拼车联盟的形成过程又会影响道路需求。该项目还对经验经济学做出了贡献。它将在一个统一的框架内共同描述有效的通行费和高效的拼车安排。新的框架将促进和实现对运输经济学中各种其他应用问题的分析。该团队还将使用该框架对各种交通政策进行模拟，并评估对经济福利和其他预期社会目标的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.