Autonomous Expectations
European cities tend to be better suited to car-free lifestyles. This is partly due to narrow streets in city centres that were designed long before the start of the mass production of cars. But part of it is also due to a philosophy of designing cities around the needs of humans instead of cars. Aarhus, Denmark is a fantastic example of a city that's designed for people. There are bike lanes everywhere and efficient public transportation throughout the city. Additionally, the city is small enough to be able to walk almost anywhere.
Still, there always moments were we wished we had the convenience of private transportation. That moment at night when the buses stop and it's too cold to bike home or when we have luggage or groceries to carry. Or simply if I wanted to go on a road trip. This is when the current model is broken. Taxis are often prohibitively expensive. Renting a car isn't cheap either. In Madrid, where I currently live, there are more options. Taxis are cheaper and there are car-sharing schemes like BlaBlaCar or Car2Go. But the former requires planning the logistics of it beforehand the Car2Go is limited to Madrid only and requires actual driving.
Autonomous Vehicles, or AV, can take these concepts much further.
3 expectations for Autonomous Vehicles:
Convenience
There are conveniences to having a car, but as a resident of a city, there are often more inconveniences. Having private transportation only when you need it and without the maintenance costs. Private transportation should be like Uber, but better. A simple app on my phone where a vehicle of my choice comes to me whenever it's summoned it. No worries about parking, or tickets or maintenance. I want to be able to go on a ten day road trip and have exclusive use of the vehicle to keep luggage safely in it.
Cost
How much does it cost to go to Valencia from Madrid, Spain? Cars are surprisingly expensive if all costs, including maintenance and car payments are included. The graph below shows that Uber is by far the most expensive. AV are about €60 cheaper than a frequently used VW Golf.
Uber
The current cost of an Uber in Madrid is €1.15/km with a €5 minimum. If Uber did intercity trips a roundtrip to Valencia would cost €822 for 712km.
VW Golf
This article (in Spanish) sums up the cost of owning a car in Madrid. The final figure depends on how much someone uses it. The more use the car gets, the more expensive it becomes but the lower the per km costs. A VW golf could cost from €7540 per year for 20000 km to €6090 for half the use. The road trip to Valencia using the high km use figure would cost €0.37/km or €263 in total.
Autonomous Vehicle
A Colombia study has found that a fleet of autonomous vehicles in manhattan would cost about €0.28/km with today's exchange rate. While these two environments might seem vastly different, if a road trip starts in Madrid, a dense urban environment and finishes in the same dense urban environment the comparison makes sense. The road trip to Valencia would cost €199.
Traffic
There is nothing worst than being stuck in traffic while going to work or school. There is a moment of frustration when the light turns red just before it's your turn to cross. Current techniques include the green light wave where a series of traffic lights are coordinated to allow a smooth flow of traffic. AV that can communicate with each other can one up this technique. What if there were no traffic light but vehicles simply coordinated with one another to pass whenever there was a available slot? The simulation below gives you an idea of the possibilities of AV's.
If municipalities acknowledge the possibilities of Autonomous Vehicles and prepare for it. Our urban future will contain more and cheaper mobility all the while giving streets back to pedestrians.
