Connected Autonomous Mobility in the United States: A Narrative Review of Transportation, Urban, Economic, Environmental, and Governance Implications

Abstract

Connected autonomous vehicles are often evaluated as individual driving systems, yet their larger transportation effects depend on how automation interacts with connectivity, service models, freight operations, infrastructure, and governance. This narrative, trend-oriented review synthesizes U.S.-focused literature on passenger and freight automation, traffic operations, urban form, mobility, economics, energy, cybersecurity, and regulation. The reviewed evidence does not support a single expected outcome. Cooperative control can improve traffic stability and capacity under sufficient participation; shared mobility can reduce parking demand yet generate empty travel; freight automation can improve logistics efficiency while shifting infrastructure and workforce requirements; and energy benefits can be offset by induced travel. Four scenarios distinguish development paths by ownership, application, and degree of network coordination rather than by assumed adoption rates. The central conclusion is that the long-term significance of autonomous vehicles may depend less on removing the human driver than on whether passenger vehicles, freight fleets, public transit, and infrastructure become interoperable components of a coordinated mobility network. The resulting benefits and risks are therefore system-level and policy-dependent.