MERGE Greenwich

Addison Lee were proud to lead the £1m government-backed MERGE Greenwich project. Working with an outstanding consortium, we were able to simulate new autonomous vehicle ride-sharing services, in order to understand the potential impact on cities, research customer attitudes and assess the commercial viability of these new services.

Key findings include:

• 85% of survey respondents were willing to use autonomous vehicles, but only 46% said they would be willing to share trips.
• 68% of all passenger trips could, in theory, be shared – however when combined with MERGE Greenwich customer research and simulation, this figure fell to 28% of all trips.
• Average journey times can be reduce by up to 53% in areas with poor public transport accessibility, and up to 74% when the service is geared towards convenience (albeit at a higher price).
• Parking spaces can be re-purposed, as AV ride-sharing reduced the number of trips requiring parking by 38%.
• New services must be introduced as part of a package of measures, to ensure more passengers switch from private car use than from public transport.
• If services are not designed to complement public transport, congestion and emissions are likely to increase.
• Commercial viability is possible, however first-generation vehicles are likely to be expensive and labour costs cannot be eliminated.

To find out more about this project click here.

To download the full MERGE Greenwich report click here.

With thanks to all members of the MERGE Greenwich family, which involved the expertise of Ford, DG Cities, Immense, TRL and the Transport Systems Catapult.