DTLaV: Policy recommendations for a Downtown Los Angeles autonomous and connected vehicle pilot zone
Technology has permeated almost every aspect of our lives. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (~215 million people) own a smartphone, an item just over twenty years old. Our phones initially allowed us mobile access to the internet whenever and wherever there was a wi-fi signal. This, until very recently, required action, the user must take out her phone, log on, and search for the information he or she needed. With the addition of artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and nearly ubiquitous wi-fi coverage in major cities, our phones are able to do things with no effort from us. This has changed the way we work, changed the way we interact with our homes, the way we navigate our cities — and will completely change the vehicle systems that carry us through our cities.
Depending on your source, autonomous vehicles (AV) will be on our streets yesterday, or in a few years from now. There are several companies in the race for the prize, and cities need to get their policies, infrastructure, and citizens ready for the inevitable release. As there are great potential benefits of AVs, there are myriad potential problems. This paper addresses both and attempts to offers solutions and policy advice to make the switch from human-piloted vehicles to autonomous vehicles as frictionless as possible.
To facilitate this change, and to test on a smaller scale within the city, it is recommended that the Mayor and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) create an incrementally deployed AV pilot zone in Downtown Los Angeles.
BACKGROUND
Los Angeles, a sprawling metropolis made up of smaller neighborhoods, each with a unique culture and “feel,” is undergoing a transformation. Long associated with automobiles and freeways — and their products, traffic and smog — Los Angeles, both the administration and its citizens, is looking for ways to change the way we move about our city. Metro Rail has expanded significantly over the past two decades to become the fifth busiest rapid transit system (on a per mile basis), behind more established East Coast systems. Los Angeles has a robust bus system, a nascent Bike Share system, localized DASH and Commuter Express buses, and will soon launch an EV car sharing pilot. Additionally, voters overwhelmingly supported a ½ cent sales tax increase to fund transit, as Measure M passed with 71% support.
Despite the attempt to get Angelenos out of their cars, Los Angeles still has the dishonor of being the most polluted city in America, our cars are literally making us sick — and they are killing us. Traffic deaths increased from 186 in 2015 to 260 in 2016. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LADOT have adopted a Vision Zero plan with the goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities by 2025. We need to stop accepting that our commutes kill a single person, much less 260 people a year. This problem demands aggressive change, and it is time Los Angeles changes the way we think about transportation.
Downtown Los Angeles (in this paper, defined as the area within the 101 to the north and the east, the 10 to the South and the 110 to the west), after decades of neglect and population flight, is undergoing a massive repopulation and revitalization. In 1999 the population was a paltry 18,700 people, more than tripling to 60,618 by 2015, and projected to grow to 185,000 by 2040. In addition to the permanent residents, Downtown swells to a population of over 500,000 every workday, the majority arriving in their cars alone. Currently 39% of the land area in Downtown is devoted to roads and surface parking lots. If the status quo of draconian parking minimums and car ownership were to continue, Downtown will be unable to accommodate its future residents.
This population reinvigorating the street life in Downtown, must mix with cars speeding down three-lane one-way streets has had disastrous consequences. Of Los Angeles’ High Injury Network (HIN, 6% of Los Angeles’ streets accounting for 65% of KSIs [Killed or Serious Injury]), 21.65 miles are located downtown. Between 2010–2015 in Downtown there were 1565 reported collisions between a motor vehicle and either a pedestrian or a bicyclist, resulting in 20 fatalities. These statistics are unacceptable, and should frighten all of us.
VISION
In “The Street as Platform 2050,” urbanist Dan Hill envisions a (mostly) utopian future where data infiltrate every aspect of our daily lives asking us to imagine a city where “There are no traffic lights, fences, street markings, barriers, traffic islands, bollards, drains, road signs, few if any pylons, no step-down transformers, switchboxes. Traffic, from Drivers to bikes to animals, move in all directions at once.” Downtown has the opportunity to enact Hill’s vision and become a guiding light for other cities by creating a fully autonomous pilot zone by 2035. Being the first at anything requires visionary leadership, smart policy and agility. Los Angeles cannot be dissuaded by the unknown or by the inevitable missteps that are inherently associated with innovation. As the cultural theorist Paul Virilio wrote, “The invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck.”
Demographically, Downtown is perfectly suited for a pilot AV program. The population is young (66% are between the ages of 23–444), educated (79% have a college degree), affluent (average median income is $98,000/year) — all variables that skew toward early adoption of technology. Additionally, 62% of residents walk to work, implying that they live close to their workplaces, potentially not requiring full time car ownership. When paired with the KSI and HIN data, these statistics suggest not only that the area needs a change, but will likely be more welcoming than Angelenos still heavily reliant on their vehicles.
Best Practices
Government and technology inherently (and importantly) move at different speeds. Policymakers should not chase the latest technologies, rather they should facilitate a safe, equitable environment for their deployment. Despite planning and good intentions, there will be citizens and businesses that are uncomfortable with a change in transportation modes. Large businesses, like government, are not agile enough to bend to unprecedented change. While the goals to improve the quality of life of citizens and achieve the Mayor’s Vision Zero Goals outweigh disruption to the status quo, the needs and concerns of citizens must be taken seriously.
Early adopters are by nature going to take on more risk, but positioned next to the KSI and air quality data of Los Angeles, it is a risk worth taking. Policymakers need to mitigate risk for all involved parties by speaking to representatives from all levels in the community, both collecting and implementing input when valid. Due to the unprecedented nature of creating a public, fully autonomous vehicle zone, policymakers must be flexible, reliant on data analytics, and decisive so that policies accurately reflect and regulate the situation on the ground.
Government, at all levels, were caught off guard by the seemingly overnight proliferation of TNCs. Policymakers have had to create policy from behind, as there was no system in place to regulate these companies. This has resulted in significant discord between businesses and regulators. Cities should look to this situation as a scenario to not repeat. LADOT should create a position to liaise between the department and the technology companies to begin creating regulations, data-sharing agreements, and universal protocols for connected infrastructure.
Policy Recommendations
0–5 Years
P1.1: Create a congestion zone within the defined Downtown boundary.
P1.2: Locate and build four mobility hubs on the north, south, east and west perimeter of Downtown providing all available transit options at each.
P1.3: Rezone Downtown to remove industrial and manufacturing uses from the city center.
P1.4: Eliminate parking minimums. Create maximum parking restrictions.
P1.05: Install LIDAR and ANPR cameras to create an automated speed enforcement network.
P1.06: Create a liaison position within the Mayor’s office to coordinate between LADOT, the City of Los Angeles, CD14 and the technology companies and auto manufacturers.
P1.7: Inventory all available data and create “Data as Service” plan.
P1.8: Develop standard and connected AV infrastructure.
P1.9: Create two fully autonomous, connected streets in medium traffic area.
P1.10: Implement hybrid open/closed streets.
P1.11: Develop guidelines for right-sizing and permanently opening streets to pedestrians, and adaptive reuse of obsolete land uses.
P1.12: Continue development of the Go La app to facilitate multi-modal trips and unified payment.
P1.13: Create Transit Kiosks throughout the city.
5–10 Years
P2.1: Identify and convert to AV-only 50% of Downtown streets.
P2.2: Develop a LADOT fleet of autonomous cars and on-demand, optimized route bus fleet.
P2.3: Promote carshare in lieu of ownership.
10–15 Years
P3.1: Make the entire Downtown area an AV only zone.
Conclusion
Los Angeles has the opportunity to rewrite its transit story, providing an enhancement of life to its citizens and being a guiding light to the rest of the world. We have the unique opportunity of the alignment of a willing demographic, a burgeoning multi-modal transit system, a citizenry that passes Measure M by a wide margin. The city once synonymous with traffic and smog can lead the way in the future of transportation.
