Competition in Electric Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Systems

This article investigates the impacts of competition in autonomous mobility-on-demand systems. By adopting a network-flow based formulation, we first determine the optimal strategies of profit-maximizing platform operators in monopoly and duopoly markets, including the optimal prices of rides. Furthermore, we characterize the platform operator’s profits and the consumer surplus. We show that for the duopoly, the equilibrium prices for rides have to be symmetric between the firms. Then, in order to study the benefits of introducing competition in the market, we derive universal theoretical bounds on the ratio of prices for rides, aggregate demand served, profits of the firms, and consumer surplus between the monopolistic and the duopolistic setting. We discuss how consumers’ firm loyalty affects each of the aforementioned metrics. Finally, using the Manhattan network and demand data, we quantify the efficacy of static pricing and routing policies and compare it to real-time model predictive policies.