Automated mobilities systems and technologies have been hyped as bringing us safer, more environmentally sustainable, cheaper, more efficient, more convenient and personalised modes of movement – of people, things and other species.

Yet the hype invested in future automated mobilities consistently fails to deliver their ambitious promises: autonomous driving cars still remain pivoted to come onto our roads; Mobility-as-a-Service systems are still waiting to come about effectively; and people are unsure of whether they would trust an automated system to wirelessly charge their electric car.

This symposium asks three crucial questions:

• First, why do we need to be careful? Where are the limitations, flaws and inequities, in dominant anticipatory visions and narratives? What could possibly go wrong if we place ADM at the centre of a predictive, automated and data-driven mobilities future?
• Second, how might we anticipate care-full mobilities futures? And what could go right if we do? What might more realistic, ethical and responsible automated mobilities futures might look like? What does safety actually entail when we explore it from the perspective of the diverse groups of people who might encounter ADM in transport mobilities?
• Finally, how can attending to these questions help us move us forward into more hopeful mobility futures? What are the shared values that might make this possible? Where and with whom should we be imagining, designing and testing our future automated mobilities? And what should be our first steps to achieve this collectively and collaboratively?

This interdisciplinary symposium brings together researchers and stakeholders in automated mobilities to share, explore, create and connect. Taking place at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and online across two days, the event will include panel discussions, creative research workshops, short film screenings, and social events.

This event will be held in-person at RMIT University, Melbourne and online.

#FutureMobilities 

The themes of the symposium include designing mobilities of care; doing good with mobility data; disability and automated mobilities; and interdisciplinary, interspecies, and multi-stakeholder mobilities.

This is a hybrid conference, taking place in-person at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and online via livestream. Please email admsevents@rmit.edu.au for the livestream link.

View the event program for details on each session, speakers and other helpful information. The program is available as an online PDF and screen-reader friendly version.

Registration for this event has now closed. If you would like to access the livestream, please email admsevents@rmit.edu.au.

RMIT University has a COVIDSafe Plan in place to safely support on-campus activities and prevent the spread of COVID-19. The latest information and guidance from RMIT University is available online.

If you are experiencing any cold or flu-like symptoms, even if mild, please refrain from attending this event in-person. The Future Automated Mobilities Symposium is a hybrid event with all attendees able to watch and participate in the proceedings online via live-stream.