Driverless cars are already here but the roads are not ready

Mark Wilson - Professor and Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Program, School of Planning and Construction, University of Michigan, says that the transition to autonomous cars will have an impact on our lives, as the Internet had, and on cities as the transition from buggies to cars had and calls for early planning

The death of a woman who was hit by an Uber car that was testing a ride without a human driver not long ago, and an incident in which a Tesla Model S crashed and caught fire in Culver City, California, in January 2018. When the hands of the driver who is there to prevent such incidents were not on the wheel, because he Let the car do some of the driving, how these cases might change the discussion about autonomous cars. These tragic deaths raise questions about whether people and cities will be ready when this new technology moves from beta testing to full rollout.

As an urban planner who has analyzed how technology affects cities, I believe that self-driving vehicles will significantly change everything that moves and the stationary landscape. Until now, the public and governments at all levels have paid too little attention to how the transition to self-driving cars will change urban, suburban and rural communities.

Driverless vehicles are closer than you think. General Motors, for example, plans to start producing autonomous car models for the vehicle sharing market as early as 2019. But public awareness and consumer education will take much longer, perhaps decades. This will depend on the level of safety of the cars, plus the time needed to implement legal and political changes such as the enactment of local laws governing the use of self-driving cars.

This change requires all car manufacturers, consumers, insurers, planners and officials at all levels of government to work together and be the initiators of regulating the technological change instead of waiting until it happens and doing something at the last minute. Now is the time for education, discussion and thoughtful planning.
This change is equal in magnitude to what happened when cars replaced horses and the Internet gained momentum. In both cases technology has changed the way people live, work and move. And the change happened before the public or the governments were ready.

When the first internet became popular in the 90s, how many people - if any - predicted the social and behavioral changes it brought with it?.

Also, the advent of motorized transportation more than a century ago completely changed cities, towns, and suburbs. Replacing horses with the internal combustion engine required wider, better roads and the invention and proliferation of traffic lights, gas stations, car dealerships, public parking lots and private garages. Governments had to regulate who could drive and what vehicles were fit to be on the roads.

Driving in driverless cars will require new infrastructure and laws because it changes the daily life and the patterns of driving on roads that are only beginning to catch on today. The results can be positive or negative.

Ideally, autonomous vehicles will make it easier for people who can't drive for whatever reason. These vehicles will ensure efficient days and trips for everyone else.
In addition, they can make the roads safer. Nearly 6,000 American pedestrians and more than 37,000 drivers and passengers die in car crashes each year. Despite the two recent deaths related to autonomous driving, it is likely that this number will be lower without people in the driver's seat.
If they encourage ride sharing traffic may ease and pollution may decrease, the amount of land currently occupied by roads and parking lots may also shrink. More homes and businesses will make do with home garages (which are very common in the suburban US), and entrance ramps will undergo zoning changes. Air pollution will also decrease because the chances are that autonomous vehicles will run on electricity and not on gasoline or diesel, and the production of electricity will be done more and more from wind and solar energy. Just think what your local community could gain - wider sidewalks, bike and jogging paths and additional green space. No wonder urban planners are already looking into the possibilities.

unexpected results
However, this technology may have serious drawbacks. What if autonomous vehicles would drive on empty instead of parking? This will increase the density and not decrease it. The use of public transport may decrease if passengers have the freedom to do what they want with their vehicles. If they become more tolerant of longer commutes, driverless cars could increase congestion.

The truth is, no one knows what to expect. While engineers have been developing the technology for decades, scientists, politicians and government officials have only recently begun to deal with its consequences. And public opinion and public involvement have not yet been heard in full force. .

Leaving everything to market forces and consumer whims could create more problems than autonomous vehicles can solve. That is why I believe that the planning aspect of the transition to driverless cars should be taken into account.

Disclosure statement
Mark Wilson does not work for, consult with, own stock in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliation beyond his academic appointment.

For the article in the American edition of The Conversation website which is published under the Creative Common license

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• Who is responsible when the wheel is in the car's hands?
• Making the car autonomous is not just a technical change, it will cause a revolution in the definition of what a city is
• IBM registered a patent for a system for transferring control of the vehicle between the driver and the autonomous car - according to the risk on the way