Examining the challenges and opportunities of autonomous vehicles to urban planning

Summary

Using a series of qualitative approaches, this report examines the potential impacts of autonomous vehicles (AV) on transit and parking systems. A literature review helped us identify three orders of general impacts caused by the development of AV, as well as their specific effects on transit and parking. Based on the results of the literature review, we organized two focus groups and held in-depth discussions regarding the impacts of AV with planning practitioners from the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area. The analytical results showed that opinions differ regarding what AV's specific effects might look like. Nevertheless, all of the literature as well as participants of the focus groups agreed that AV will have significant impacts and corresponding planning policies need to be developed.