IMPLICATIONS OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: A PLANNER'S PERSPECTIVE

You are here: Homepage > Search

IMPLICATIONS OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: A PLANNER'S PERSPECTIVE

Ryan Snyder

As an urban planner, the author is particularly interested in what Automated Vehicle technology can do for their transportation systems and their cities. With evolving AV technology, they can already imagine some of the prospects. This article focuses on potential benefits and drawbacks of Autonomous Vehicles (AV), along with a call for policy action that attempts to speed the potential benefits while minimizing detrimental impacts. AVs offer many potential advantages over human-driven vehicles. They bring promise to address some of the most important policy issues of our time. Improvements in safety, mobility for non-drivers, reduction in greenhouse gases, and opportunities to improve our streets should be seen as opportunities to seize. If we can significantly improve public transit with existing funds, and not have to invest in expensive infrastructure, this should be seen as something worth pursuing. AVs offer the opportunity to circumvent local political squabbles over competition for street space through much more efficient use of the space.