Polycentric Governance and Social Identities in Autonomous Mobility: The Case of the Braunschweig Region

As autonomous mobility moves from experimental settings to real-world implementation, coordination among diverse state and non-state actors within complex institutional arrangements is required. The Braunschweig region is a particularly relevant case for studying these emerging governance structures. Home to major industry players like Volkswagen and research institutions such as the Technical University of Braunschweig and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the region has achieved notable regulatory milestones, including the first Level 4 autonomous vehicle approval for public roads granted to a research institution in Germany. These developments demonstrate the region's significant potential for autonomous driving innovation. However, the necessary governance structures to support this technological transition are still evolving. This paper develops a conceptual approach for systematically mapping and analyzing the polycentric governance structures surrounding autonomous mobility in the Braunschweig region. Drawing on the Social Identities in the Policy Process (SIPP) framework, it explores how social identities and group memberships may shape the way actors engage in this emerging policy field. Understanding these dynamics is crucial as new actor constellations form around autonomous mobility and existing actors reposition themselves in response to technological and regulatory developments. The SIPP framework provides valuable analytical perspectives for examining actor behavior in polycentric governance arrangements. Social identity theory suggests that individuals' group memberships influence how they perceive policy problems, form preferences, and interact with others in the policy process. In the context of autonomous mobility governance, relevant social identities may include professional communities (such as engineers, urban planners, or transport operators), organizational affiliations (public authorities, private companies, research institutions), sectoral backgrounds (automotive industry, public transport, technology sector), and territorial attachments (municipal, regional, or state-level perspectives). The research design focuses on mapping the existing governance landscape through systematic document analysis of planning and strategy documents as well as examination of regulatory frameworks. This approach allows us to identify key actors, their institutional positions, and their stated interests regarding autonomous mobility. By applying a SIPP lens to this material, we explore how different social identities become visible in policy documents and how they may relate to varying problem definitions, strategic priorities, and preferred governance arrangements. The paper addresses several conceptual questions: How do different actor groups define their roles and responsibilities in the governance of autonomous mobility? What patterns of potential collaboration or tension emerge from actors with different professional, organizational, and sectoral identities? How might territorial identities influence perspectives on regional coordination? To what extent do actors emphasize shared versus distinct group identities when articulating their positions? As autonomous mobility governance is still in its formative stages in the Braunschweig region, this research contributes to understanding how governance structures develop in emerging technology fields. The paper offers a conceptual framework linking polycentric governance analysis with SIPP, demonstrating how attention to social identities can enrich our understanding of actor constellations. The paper concludes by reflecting on the analytical utility of this approach for studying regional innovation ecosystems and outlining directions for further empirical research. Panel: Social Identities, Programmatic Action, and Group Dynamics in Policy Processes