Innovation for preservation? Automated vehicles and the facilitating state

In 2017, the Norwegian Government flagged its interest in automated vehicles, and established legislation that allowed for automated vehicles to be tested on public roads. Proponents of automated vehicles claim that such vehicles represent an opportunity for making road transport greener, safer, and more efficient, as well as a considerable opportunity for industrial development and economic growth. This thesis takes innovation processes relating to automated vehicles as a starting point for understanding the roles ascribed to new technologies in and beyond the transport sector. The thesis is composed of three articles and an overarching essay. The first article concerns the translation of a set of generalised expectations into a more specific vision of how the development of automated vehicles might benefit the Norwegian state, and, by extension, what future automated vehicles might render possible. The second article concerns public expectations regarding automated vehicles in Norway as expressed through a public hearing, how these expectations are reflected in innovation practices, and how the practices shape further expectations. The third article focuses on the temporal aspect of innovation, and contrasts technology innovation with policy innovation in order to draw out the implications of the two approaches to shaping the future of transport. The overarching essay analyses, synthesises, and draws conclusions from across the three articles to enable a discussion of the transformative role often ascribed to technology. Whereas the importance of technology should not be discounted offhand, transport innovation in Norway is configured in a way that ultimately promotes the continuation and preservation of established transport patterns in particular, as well as society more generally. The expectation that future technology will help ameliorate or even solve the problems associated with today’s transport system allows present-day action to be deferred indefinitely. However, expectations are always associated with considerable uncertainty. Hence, it is crucial not only to ask what benefits new technologies might bring, and to assess any such claims critically, but also to plan for a future in which expectations for new technologies might not be realised.