Paper short abstract:

Test beds and living labs are increasingly set up in public to achieve an urban mobility transition. This proliferation of experimentation as transformative instruments evokes STS reflection on consequential social and democratic reorderings.

Paper long abstract:

Experiments in cities have become a crucial instrument for innovation and climate policy, particularly in the sector of urban mobility. City governments appreciate this shift to experiments that draw on the idea of developing future mobility in a more inclusive and participatory way, resonating with longstanding calls from the STS community.

Low-tech living labs and test beds of autonomous driving co-exist and present diverse models for scalable solutions. This proliferation of exceptional, experimental spaces in the name of the need for socio-technical change stimulates STS reflections on: How is experimentation in multiple manifestations enacted as an instrument for a mobility transition vis-à-vis other measures? What are the consequential societal and democratic reorderings?

In the city of Munich, the municipality and a large mobility research consortium experiment comprehensively with several mobility visions. Street experiments rededicate parking space to public areas for leisure and make a different future of living areas tangible. At the same time, strong actors like the Technological University use their tech expertise to demonstrate that autonomous vehicles can maneuver in complex situations. Another project created a test bed for improving data collection of autonomous cars. The city aims to become a laboratory for future mobility and underscores this ambition with an exhibition of these experiments during the International Mobility Show Germany. In the sense of STS making and doing, the research on and with these experiments can account for the challenge of how STS can be an active part of these experiments and contribute to more responsible experimentation.