(Urban) Planning for Self-Driving Cars

I don’t know the answers, but it’s worth the conversation and awareness.

How are Charlottesville/Albemarle/Central Virginia planning for self-driving cars? They’re coming.

• Uber swallows self-driving truck startup Otto for $680 million
• Columbus’ smart city win may lead to autonomous trucks
• Local smart city planners want big government to butt out

Jobs that can be performed by machines eventually will be performed by machines. 

One day, society will look back at the infrastructure of the 2000s and wonder, “why?” And they’ll ask, befuddled, “nearly 40K people were killed every year, millions injured? Really?”

How will infrastructure change?

• As Self-Driving Cars Change Transportation, How Will Infrastructure Adapt?
  • Wellers supposes that cars could be served on an as-needed basis. You need to go to the grocery store, then the service delivers an SUV at a particular time. Or a Mini Cooper if you are going to Whole Foods. Let’s be honest, you don’t need an SUV if you are shopping at Whole Foods. That would be your monthly rent. The point is that you’d have the freedom to ask “what car do I need today?“. This is under the assumption that you view driving as a task, or a service, rather than something you enjoy doing.
• Full speed ahead: How the driverless car could transform cities (archived: 2021)

• Ten ways autonomous driving could redefine the automotive world (no longer available)

  • (Autonomous Vehicles) could free as much as 50 minutes a day for users, who will be able to spend traveling time working, relaxing, or accessing entertainment. The time saved by commuters every day might add up globally to a mind-blowing one billion hours—equivalent to twice the time it took to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. It could also create a large pool of value, potentially generating global digital-media revenues of €5 billion per year for every additional minute people spend on the mobile Internet while in a car.

     

    8. Parking becomes easier.

    AVs could change the mobility behavior of consumers, potentially reducing the need for parking space in the United States by more than 5.7 billion square meters. Multiple factors would contribute to the reduction in parking infrastructure. For example, self-parking AVs do not require open-door space for dropping off passengers when parked, allowing them to occupy parking spaces that are 15 percent tighter.

Pedestrian flypaper. It’s a thing. Google it.

And … what would happen to our economy if we were to build for a world without car ownership?

If people were able to ride bikes/walk/Uber/whatever’s next without having own and maintain a car?

Think about some rough potential savings per month:

• $300 for a car payment
• $200 for insurance
• $200 for gas/service
• $100 for parking?

$800/month is money. Real, tangible, change-a-life-money.

Just a couple thoughts for a Thursday. I wonder if this is on the radar of local governments at Charlottesville, Albemarle, and the region.