This article is one of a 3-part series into Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and smart cities.
2018 is poised to be an exciting year for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs). In January of this year, the UK Government had the first reading of the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill; the first piece of UK legislation in history to make reference to an inanimate object “driving itself”. For an in-depth analysis of this new legislation, look out for our forthcoming article in March.
The world of driving is transforming at a furious and unprecedented pace. Massive shifts in technology, demographics and employment make planning for the future a difficult and chaotic task. The current paradigm of the human driver-centric smart city needs to be updated. A new vehicle-centric ‘machine perspective’ is required, one which places the CAV itself at the centre of design and policy decisions. Split over three parts, this article will address the key challenges facing smart city and CAV integration.
The rapidly advancing pace of driver automation will bring with it a profound change in the way society and vehicles coexist. Nowhere will this be more evident than in cities. CAVs require a radically different approach to urban planning than that of human-driven vehicles. Some of the differences are subtle, some are obvious. YoUrban specialise in providing a clear and concise pathway for better city and CAV integration. We can translate the technical requirements, strengths and weaknesses of CAVs into practical advice for the urban planner or policy maker. By merging the disparate fields of urban planning and robotics, a novel set of tools, concepts and language can be applied to the smart city domain. CAVs have the potential to bring about massive change in society, but only if the right infrastructure is in place first.
In order to realise this change a paradigm-shift in the way we think about driving is required. The first and most important idea to understand is that with CAVs, there is no driving. Drivers who were once solely responsible for the actions of their vehicles become passengers. This change is a fundamental alteration to a century of driving and transportation theory.
In this article we discuss how the existing ‘human driver-centric’ paradigm has laid the foundation for the entire driving landscape. This we shall call the ‘pre-autonomous’ era. It is important to consider the impact this will have upon the coming ‘post-autonomous’ era.
Notable UK CAV Projects
Bristol is home to some notable developments in the field of CAV and smart city integration and has recently been promoted as the top smart city in the UK1, overtaking London. One of these projects is FLOURISH; a multi-sector collaboration helping to advance the successful implementation of CAVs in the UK. In a report commissioned by FLOURISH into the mobility of older people, the authors cite CAVs as key enablers in providing for the health and wellbeing of a growing ageing population2.
Another is Venturer; a partnership of public, private and academic experts with the aim of establishing the South West UK as a world class test site for CAVs. In a revealing survey of public opinion3, it was found that on average most respondents were prepared to pay up to a third more per mile for the benefit of having a self-driving vehicle.
Connecting all these projects is The Transport Systems Catapult; the UK’s innovation centre for Intelligent Mobility. The Catapult has been hugely influential in promoting the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). In a 2016 report into mobility4, the Catapult stated that a “one-size-fits-all” approach is simply not an option. Instead a fully integrated ecosystem is required, able to adapt to the changing needs of citizens in real time.
Smart Cities and the CAV
From a robotics point of view, the most difficult technical challenge in developing CAVs is how to model the world. This is the primary endeavour consuming huge resources at the world’s largest car and technology companies. The other technical challenges have to a large extent been overcome. Humans have an instinctive awareness of the world they inhabit, and it can be said that we understand the world and the objects within it. For CAVs however (and artificial intelligences (AIs) in general), the challenge of giving a machine a similar level of understanding to a human is currently not possible. Nothing is implied when giving a machine a representation of the world. Everything must be described precisely within a given set of constraints. After all, computers deal in the absolute, represented by ones and zeros; while humans and the world exist in flowing, ever changing states consisting of all the remaining numbers in between.
Why is this important? Human driving is an incredibly subjective undertaking. Most of the traits which make a good driver stem from concepts such as ‘gut feeling’, instinct and the fear of bodily harm; or of causing harm to others. These same subjective considerations apply to urban planners where beauty and a ‘sense of place’ are important design considerations when laying out cities. What happens then, when the driver is replaced by an unemotional autonomous system? What need does it have of a ‘sense of place’? Obviously, the occupants of the vehicle and pedestrians on the streets would still benefit from a pleasant and well apportioned environment; it just becomes a luxury rather than a practical necessity, as far as driving is concerned. This just serves to highlight that in the current human driver-centric paradigm of urban planning – much of the subjective aspects of road design and urban planning are at worst a hindrance to the progress of CAVs, or at the very least, serve no purpose to the advancement of greater CAV integration.
The future of cities with CAVs is therefore difficult to predict and requires a technical understanding of the nuances of robotics, to be of any real utility. Of certainty though, is the way people will continue to need transport and the ways they will want to interact with it. This leads to an inescapable conclusion about the future of CAVs; urban planners and decision makers must start thinking about the robotic technologies that underpin CAVs and smart city principles.
Current CAVs are being designed to operate in the pre-autonomous landscape, but only as a temporary measure. Much work is being done by car and technology companies to emulate the role of the human driver. The reason being that the environment within which they must operate is designed around a human driver. While this is the most obvious and sensible approach to do in the current human driver-centric paradigm, it makes much more sense to alter the environment to be CAV-centric, whilst keeping the human occupant in mind. These alterations need not be huge, or all done at once, they can be slowly integrated into existing urban and transport planning. One of the problems is that the current generation of urban and transport planners are still being taught to think in a driver-centric way, using theories developed more than half a century ago. The true potential of the CAV revolution will only be realised when the road networks and cities themselves begin to embrace the radically different requirements of CAVs. In Part 2 we examine the kind of road and urban planning theory we have inherited from the pre-autonomous era; and offer a fresh alternative, more suited to the post-autonomous one.
To find out more about how we are helping local governments build cities fit for the future, or to chat about how we can help you, please contact us at info@yurbs.org.
Sources:
1 UK Smart Cities Index, Navigant Consulting Inc. [online]. 23 October 2017.
2 The mobility of older people, and the future role of Connected Autonomous Vehicles, Centre for Transport and Society, University of the West of England, Bristol [online]. 1 September 2016.
3 Willingness to Share and Pay for Autonomous Vehicles, Venturer Social Research Group [online]. 12 November 2017.
4 Exploring the Opportunity for Mobility as a Service in the UK, Transport System Catapult [online]. 1 July 2016.
Adam is co-founder and a senior consultant at YoUrban. He has a background in robotics and AI and has provided digital transformation and robotics advice to organisations and governments around the world. He is passionate about using technology to build a better, sustainable and more inclusive future.
YoUrban is a new type of consultancy that researches, develops and provides advice on digital strategies, services and technologies to increase the quality of life, sustainability and resilience of citizens, communities and cities. We are specialists in the areas of big data, robotics, AI, telecommunications, digital transformation and smart cities.