Stilgoe, Jack and Cohen, Tom 2021. Rejecting acceptance: learning from public dialogue on self-driving vehicles. Science and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scab060
| Title | Rejecting acceptance: learning from public dialogue on self-driving vehicles |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Stilgoe, Jack and Cohen, Tom |
| Abstract | Abstract The investment and excitement surrounding self-driving vehicles are huge. We know from earlier transport innovations that technological transitions can reshape lives, livelihoods, and places in profound ways. There is therefore a case for wide democratic debate, but how should this take place? In this paper, we explore the tensions between democratic experiments and technological ones with a focus on policy for nascent self-driving/automated vehicles. We describe a dominant model of public engagement that imagines increased public awareness leading to acceptance and then adoption of the technology. We explore the flaws in this model, particularly in how it treats members of the public as users rather than citizens and the presumption that the technology is well-defined. Analysing two large public dialogue exercises in which we were involved, our conclusion is that public dialogue can contribute to shifting established ideas about both technologies and the public, but that this reframing demands openness on the part of policymakers and other stakeholders. Rather than seeing public dialogues as individual exercises, it would be better to evaluate the governance of emerging technologies in terms of whether it takes place ‘in dialogue’. |
| Keywords | Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law |
| Public Administration | |
| Geography, Planning and Development | |
| Journal | Science and Public Policy |
| ISSN | 0302-3427 |
| 1471-5430 | |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scab060 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 20 Aug 2021 |
| Project | ES/S001832/1 |
| Funder | Alan Turing Institute |
| Sciencewise | |
| Economic and Social Research Council | |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |