Planning the driverless city

Abstract

AV technologies have the potential to transform urban landscapes and existing transport systems and networks. Yet, the utopian imaginary of reduced automobile ownership and a new shared economic future sits in tension with suggestions that car dependency, urban sprawl and transport inaccessibility will be exacerbated. The issues are situated in a complex governance landscape involving an influential private sector who are increasingly setting the agenda. The public sector may be forced into reacting to the new innovations by information technology and automobile companies as they are introduced into existing built environments. Drawing on an extensive literature base and interviews with public sector planners, this paper reveals the conceptual gaps in the framing of AV technology-the prospects and limits-and how these are conceived. The paper raises questions about the role urban planning can play in the rollout of AVs in order to anticipate and mediate unwanted built environment and socio-spatial impacts, as well as reconciling the ambition of transport innovation with the public purpose of planning.

Mitigating Bias in Big Data for Transportation

“…Emerging transportation technologies, such as mobilityas-a-service (MAAS), and connected and automated vehicles, might leverage big data to improve safety and other outcomes (Krishnamurthy et al 2017;Zmud et al 2018;Xie et al 2019;Legacy et al 2019). Transportation network companies also use big data to predict demand and allocate drivers and vehicles efficiently.…”

Global road safety: a well-travelled road?

“…The digital revolution is rapidly poised to introduce a new 'operating system' into a vast, well-established, and regulated road transport system (Kitchin, 2014). For example, the advent of autonomous vehicles in the transport system may be potentially as disruptive as the invention of the Model T Ford (Legacy, Ashmore, Scheurer, Stone, & Curtis, 2019). One must ask therefore, whether the regulatory institutions established in the mid-twentieth century across many high-income countries and those being established in low-and middle-income countries are (or will be) capable of governing and whether they have appropriate decision-making structures to manage the digitally-enabled challenges facing the road transport system?…”

Building a Workforce for Smart City Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for the Planning and Administrative Professions

“…CAVs could generate significant benefits including safer roadways, lower emissions, and mobility for the those with disabilities, seniors, and children. But CAVs could also lead to costs such as vehicle miles traveled, reduced revenue for states and municipalities, divestment in public transit, and transportation inequities [47,48]. Further, CAVs could impact aspects of the built environment (e.g., right-of-way width; walkability; land use patterns; and parking) [49,50].…”