Carbon Footprints Online Interview with Prof. Kara Kockelman: The Future of Shared Autonomous Mobility
On November 4, 2025, the Editorial Office of Carbon Footprints conducted an online interview with Prof. Kara Kockelman from The University of Texas at Austin, USA. The discussion focused on the challenges and opportunities of deploying shared autonomous/connected and autonomous vehicles (SAVs/CAVs) at scale in urban transportation systems, future technological and policy breakthroughs, and the implications of large-scale autonomous mobility for traffic management and travel demand modeling.
Watch the full interview with Prof. Kara Kockelman:
Interview Questions:
Q1. What are the primary challenges in scheduling, pricing, vehicle repositioning, and charging management? Which technological or policy breakthroughs are expected to be most pivotal over the next decade?
Q2. How should uncertainties such as variability in charging demand and fluctuations in renewable energy generation be handled? Which modeling approaches or algorithms show the greatest promise for managing these challenges?
Q3. Should traditional congestion pricing be redesigned in a future dominated by autonomous and shared mobility? What are the advantages or limitations of credit-based or dynamic pricing mechanisms?
Q4. How might traveler behavior (including mode choice, departure times, and multimodal trips) shift in a future with large-scale autonomous mobility? What limitations do traditional travel demand models face, and how should they be improved or extended?
Q5. What are the main obstacles to applying research findings in real-world transportation systems? How can academia, industry, and government better coordinate to accelerate the deployment of innovative mobility technologies?
About the Interviewee:
Prof. Kara Kockelman, Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Prof. Kara Kockelman is an internationally recognized scholar in civil and transportation engineering. She earned her PhD and MS in Civil Engineering, as well as an MS in City and Regional Planning, from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has been repeatedly recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. Her work has received numerous international awards, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, and has had a significant impact in both academia and policy, providing critical data and guidance for sustainable urban mobility and land-use planning.
Her research interests include shared and autonomous vehicle systems, the interaction between urban transportation and land use, transportation energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and transportation policy for sustainable mobility.
Editor: Yingzhi Zhang
Language Editor: Catherine Yang
Production Editor: Ting Xu
Respectfully Submitted by the Editorial Office of Carbon Footprints
