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Gombault_59621400_Zanellato_81361400_2019.pdf
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- Nowadays, climate change is at the heart of our concerns. Its impact on the economy and its adverse effects on natural ecosystems affect all regions of the world. In this context, it is important to focus on eco-innovations, that is to say, industrial innovations that incorporate the criteria of sustainable development. Let us consider autonomous cars for instance. Their emergence could significantly reduce the carbon emissions of the transport sector by making traffic more fluid and by reducing the number of vehicles on the roads. They could also improve road safety. However, while there are many benefits to this innovative technology, its efficiency in terms of sustainability impacts is not yet universally agreed upon. Besides, it still needs to prove itself by addressing different challenges. Such challenges mainly concern the reliability of the autonomous system, the additional cost compared to a regular car, the added data generated by the sensors and their storage, as well as the effects on the environment. This research is a qualitative study which aims to evaluate the sustainability of the autonomous car. It is based on an electric and shared mobility scenario. Firstly, six topics are developed: energy, materials, environment, legislation, economy and society. Secondly, the sustainability is studied under three main concerns: the autonomous systems (sensors, communications, data exchanges), the materials used (battery, chassis) and the energy impact (consumption of car energy, impact on the grid and V2G). Thirdly, the incentives and obstacles will be summarized according to the three pillars of sustainable development: population, prosperity and planet. Finally, a reflection qualifies the durability of this car with the aim to come up with a number of recommendations.