Autonomous vehicles promise to reinvigorate city centers. Areas that now live with congestion and noise from the vehicles, could be transform in green areas, large sidewalks and unique spaces to sit and enjoy. But how?
Imagine a visit to Lisbon downtown, get in to the car and drive to the fashion restaurant. On top of having to drive through all the city center confusion, we need to find a place to park, what can be one of the most boring exercises of this trip. An English research says that 30% of the traffic in city centers are due to drivers searching for a parking spot34.
AV’s, due to their capacity to connect to the parking infrastructure (V2I) and to other vehicles (V2V), are capable to access information that allow to choose where to go. The efficiency of this search and routes, avoiding road congestion, allowing to make the trip shorter. This reduction helps energy efficiency and air quality.
But why does the AV needs to be parked in city center? Can the vehicle drop the passengers at their destiny and get away of the center, since it’s autonomous? The pressure to park in the city center is high due to the lack of available spaces, what is reflected on the absurd prices. The AV can park outside the city center taking advantage of the lower prices there, or even at home, where the parking is free.
This way, the space that is now used to park could be converted in places to be enjoyed in the city. We hope that Lisbon, in the future, could be greener, with space to walk, cycle or even play in the street like the old days.