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Just technology transition. A policy agenda to minimise the social impacts of digitalisation and automation on the transport workforce

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: • Digitalisation and automation require changing approach towards working conditions. • Transition to automated transport cannot occur at the expenses of social justice. • A just technology transition of working environment needs a regulatory framework. • We present a policy agenda, created with stakeholders, for a just transition. • The agenda also exploits technology to solve existing issues in working environment. Digitalisation and automation are producing and will produce profound changes for transport workforce. This research aims to develop a policy agenda addressing challenges, impacts, and effects that digitalisation and automation in transport may have on the labour force. Policies are defined through a participatory approach, using collective intelligence to co-create an evidence-based and action-oriented agenda that provides for a just technology transition in the transport sector. The methodology involves four stages: 1. defining the framework of the ‘living hub’ and selecting the stakeholders involved; 2. selecting the methods adopted within the ‘living hub’ to co-create knowledge; 3. policy agenda creation; and 4. policy agenda validation. The ‘living hub’—where the co-creation process takes place—gathered more than 600 stakeholders from 450 organisations coming from 40 countries. Out of them, 322 stakeholders from all the transport modes (social partners, companies, and representatives of ministries and political institutions) and 73 workers have been involved in focus groups and creative thinking. Overall, 395 persons have participated to the creation of 11 policies eventually validated by a panel of 43 stakeholders coming from 10 EU countries, UK, USA, and South Korea (companies, labour lawyer and economists, psychologists, R&D, training agencies, trade unions, and politicians). The policies are divided in four thematic areas: 1. Public Governance and Regulation (4 policies); 2: Industrial Governance (2 policies); 3. Training and Reskilling (1 integrated policy); 4. Minimisation of Workforce Exclusion and Exploitation (4 policies). A comparison between EU versus US implementation is eventually discussed.

Source: Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives

DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2025.101670

Authors: Cristina Pronello, Enrico Fedeli

Institution: Politecnico di Torino

Language: English

Topic: Digital Economy and Work Transformation

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Decent work and economic growth, Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,400