The fear of urban sprawl through autonomous vehicles in commuting - a segmentation analysis of the Swiss population

Autonomous vehicles are believed to change the way we will perceive travel time as the car would no longer be driven by a person, enabling other activities to be performed during the time normally used for controlling the vehicle. Especially for private car commuting, scholars suggest that the value of travel time would decrease substantially due to the possibility to work during the car ride. Travel distance might increase in return, as time used during commuting will not be perceived as time lost. This could lead to the preference of living in rural areas, where land prices and rents are typically lower, and, ultimately, to urban sprawl. By looking at the jobs and mobility characteristics of the Swiss population, we argue that only a small percentage of the total population would actually benefit from active use of travel time during commuting, taking away the fear of urban sprawl through automated vehicles.