Impact of Automated Vehicles on Urban Form

Abstract

Automated vehicles (AV) are a rapidly developing technology. It is expected that completely self-driving cars in the largest cities of the world will be by 2040-2050. All over the world technical, political, legal and economic issues of self-driving technology are being explored. Self-driving cars will not only affect daily trips, but also will change the appearance of cities. Automobiles — their size, accessibility, and environmental impact — are an important factor in urban planning in the last century. This article describes the problems of introducing self-driving cars and its impact on urban form and architecture. The technology of self-driving cars will change the urban environment. Those changes will be irreversible, so it is important to have an idea about the consequences of its implementation, in order to avoid negative developments and try to get the maximum benefit from the introduction of automated vehicles. Following the analysis of the scientific literature, two main scenarios for the introduction of automated vehicles according to the form of ownership — individual and public, including the system of a mass self-driving taxi — were considered. For these scenarios, the factors of spatial influence of AV on the urban form were combined into three groups of principles: the impact on urbanization; the impact on road infrastructure; the influence at the local level. The question of how the introduction of AV will affect the density and structure of the city, as well as the quality of human life. The problem of early obsolescence of infrastructure projects has been raised. Priority of an integrated approach is shown when choosing a strategy for further development.