An initiative of the Institute
Autonomous & Livable Cities Program
Autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars) promise to make American streets safer, reduce land dedicated to parking, and reduce barriers to transportation – especially for people with disabilities and an aging population. However, some leaders have raised concern about potential impacts on congestion, equitable access, and safety during testing. This is ultimately a policy question – which is why it's important to get the answers right today.
This Initiative exists to identify pathways to the best-case scenario for autonomous vehicles in American cities through legible, specific, and politically achievable recommendations.
Autonomous vehicles don't decide the future. Our rules do.
Many debates about autonomous vehicles assume the technology will either save cities or ruin them – but technology outcomes aren't produced in a vacuum. Throughout history, innovations have always been shaped by the world they're born into: regulations set the rules for testing and deployment, economic realities dictate their diffusion and accessibility, culture influences social uptake, and civil society reacts in real time. AVs are no different.
As AV fleets are introduced into more cities across the United States and the world, policymakers are shaping not only the regulatory environment, but also the realities of deployment. For example, complex and burdensome regulations placed on on-demand robotaxi fleets today could precipitate a more rapid shift towards personally-owned autonomous vehicles, which present a different set of secondary impacts and political realities.
The policy decisions we make about AVs in the next decade must anticipate a wide range of future outcomes, some of which aren't immediately evident: a city that sets a nominal cap on the number of permitted AVs might successfully limit the number of AVs on the road, but stop AVs from improving transportation access by permitting a restricted service that can't serve anyone well.
It's critical for policymakers to not only be aware of the trade-offs between different choices, but how each policy choice interacts with different goals across equity, congestion, multimodal integration, and urban development.
This is not unique to AVs. From subways to streetcars to sidewalks and sewers, the growth of cities and the speed of innovation have always been deeply intertwined. Throughout this project, IMI will advance public understanding of AVs, explore the range of policy options, and explore the tradeoffs of different choices in IMI Policy Labs experiments. Along the way, we will dive into previous examples of innovations that have reshaped American cities and applicable lessons to lead us into the future.
Five ways AVs could improve the status quo
All achievable, none guaranteed. Below each vision is the policy work that needs to happen.
Land for people
American cities lose a staggering amount of land to storing private vehicles. Robotaxis that don't need to park at the destination return that land to the city with each trip. This land can be repurposed from parking to people – more housing, more parks, more room for people to live and connect.
Streets for biking and walking
Most of our transportation infrastructure is dedicated to vehicles. Redesigning streets to implement bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and road diets will make it safer and more comfortable for families to bike and walk in their neighborhoods.
A real answer to the first and last mile mobility
Transit usually doesn't fail on the trunk lines, but at the end. The last mile between a person's home and their nearest station is often where weather, safety, and infrastructure realities can discourage transit. AV service is unusually well suited to exactly that gap, at exactly the hours transit is weakest.
Safer streets for all
Nearly forty thousand Americans die on our roads each year from preventable tragedies involving drivers speeding, texting, and driving under the influence – as well as street designs that can fail anyone behind the wheel, no matter how careful or competent. AVs aren't a silver bullet, but they don't get drunk, don't get road rage, and don't take their eyes off the road.
Better mobility for all
Our existing transportation system has left behind many people who can't drive due to disability, age, cost, or a suspended license. In many parts of America, not having access to a car means not having access to a job, to school, or to their community. Making matters worse, most vehicles today are not designed to accommodate specific needs of wheelchair users.
Stakeholder salons
The stakeholders who will shape this future are not always in the same rooms. Transit advocates, disability advocates, labor, city staff, civic leaders, engaged citizens, and operators each hold a piece of the answer.
IMI convenes small, off-the-record sessions built for constructive arguments. No panels or press. Our goal isn't for everyone to agree, but for all parties to understand the entire stakes of the decisions at hand.
Salons will be followed with narrative summaries, never as attributed quotes.