Apeless Carriage - A Hitchhiker's guide to Driverless Vehicles

The Road We Are On Driverless cars. Autonomous vehicles. This new era of mobility and its implementation by our largest corporations appears imminent. What are the urban planners to do? Looking at the tech alone there might be little we can do. Driverless vehicles represent one of the greatest technological challenges ever undertaken, and only automotive and technology companies possess the deep pockets (and lines of credit) necessary to develop it. It is a project that no government organization (outside the military) has the budget to undertake and too complex for any regulatory agency to effectively manage. But it is happening nonetheless. And why not let them build it for us? Driverless solutions are an attractive prospect for cash strapped governments already struggling with ageing infrastructure and increased travel demand.  However, the mobility systems developed by private corporations will give them great leverage in the transportation sector.  Ultimately the...

A Shape of Things To Come The potential that autonomous vehicles (AVs) represent for disruptive and beneficial change calls for increased study and evaluation. Because of the speed at which relevant technologies are developing the time has come to look beyond short term impacts on safety, travel time reduction, accessibility and parking. History suggests that the present focus of debates over driverless vehicles-- liability, security, and popular acceptance -- are likely to be transitory. The significance of a mature autonomous transportation system will take longer to develop, but will have a profound impact on our social, economic, and built environments. This study examines the potential for driverless vehicles to address travel demand generated by activities not usually associated with single-occupancy vehicles. The focus is on the potential for small, lightweight, automated vehicles (LAV’s) to perform transportation duties that are presently accomplished by la...