Steering the future: expert knowledge and stakeholder voices in autonomous vehicle policy reports
Date
2025-01-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Policy and Society
Abstract
The anticipated arrival of autonomous vehicles has created considerable uncertainty for US states because they govern roads. In response, states activated their policy advisory systems. While policy advising at the national level has been studied, less is known about the sub-national level. Similarly, more is known about the use of scientific knowledge by policymakers than about the full range of knowledge deployed in policy advising. This study analyzes reports written for states to help them make sense of an emerging technology in preparation for governance. Committees, university researchers, staff at Department of Transportation, and legislative staff produced different types of reports, for example, more and less academic, focused more or less on topics associated with governance or engineering. Our analysis reveals that state policy advisory systems used two types of processes—convening and expert—and employed three types of expertise—academic, practical, and political—to help prepare to govern this emerging technology. The study provides insight into how states mobilized expertise to address uncertainty around an emerging technology, showing how different actors balanced the need for credible technical knowledge with legitimate stakeholder engagement.
Description
This article was originally published in Policy and Society Published by Oxford University Press. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae041.
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press.
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Keywords
policy advisory system, expertise and policymaking, autonomous vehicles, legitimacy, credibility
Citation
Hicks, Diana, Gordon Kingsley, and Kimberley R Isett. “Steering the Future: Expert Knowledge and Stakeholder Voices in Autonomous Vehicle Policy Reports.” Policy and Society, January 11, 2025, puae041. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae041.