Exploring How Emerging Technologies Are Shaping the Future of Rural Mobility

Abstract: Serving the mobility needs of rural and small communities is crucial for equitable access to economic opportunities, healthcare, education, and other essential services. In many small communities, private automobiles are typically the primary or sole mobility mode available, leaving many people who do not have access to a car, or who are unable to drive due to disability, age, or other factors with unmet mobility needs. Further exacerbating this situation is that traditional public transit systems often do not exist or are not feasible in small communities. However, in recent years the combination of app-based ride request and dispatch technologies have enabled the emergence of on-demand mobility systems that scale well to serve transportation needs of low-density populations. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) assembled representatives of U.S. Department of Energy-funded rural mobility projects, national experts in rural mobility, and a range of transportation researchers to exchange findings and ideas in a workshop. Participants highlighted outcomes from a range of applied research projects exploring how emerging technology can work toward improved mobility in small communities. This paper identifies emerging mobility technologies and practices for rural/small communities as revealed during the workshop, and anticipates potential impacts of on-demand mobility and related mobility services on small communities in the near future.