How do transportation professionals perceive the impacts of AI applications in transportation? A latent class cluster analysis

Transportation professionals are optimistic about AI's efficiency benefits but divided on equity impacts: While respondents widely support AI's potential to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance traveler experience, their views on whether AI will advance equity goals are mixed, suggesting concerns about unequal distribution of AI's benefits across different communities.

Ethics knowledge gaps are a significant concern: Many surveyed professionals worry that AI ethics are not well understood within the transportation community, indicating a potential gap between the rapid deployment of AI applications and the workforce's preparedness to implement them responsibly.

Risk of exacerbating existing inequalities: Respondents expressed concern that AI use in transportation could worsen existing inequalities, suggesting that without intentional design and oversight, AI systems may amplify rather than solve transportation equity challenges.

The transportation community is not monolithic in its AI views: The study identified four distinct professional segments (AI Neutral, AI Optimist, AI Pessimist, and AI Skeptic), indicating that transportation professionals hold diverse perspectives on AI—a finding important for tailoring responsible AI implementation strategies to different stakeholder groups.

Survey of 354 U.S. transportation professionals provides representative insight: This research captures perspectives from the professionals actually implementing AI in transportation, making their concerns about ethics understanding and equity impacts particularly relevant for policymakers and organizations developing AI governance frameworks.