Self-driving technology will make it possible to reclaim urban space from parking. (By the way, it’s already possible without self-driving tech)
See this article at Vice Motherboard by Kate Fane for coverage on the emerging trend to design parking garages that can be easily converted to other uses in the future. What’s motivating the trend is the expectation that automated vehicle tech will catalyze a rise in the use of “shared mobility” with a consequent drop in demand for parking.
Demand for parking will decrease, substantially—if cities plan wisely. When asked to provide comment for this piece, I emphasized that the greatest space savings will come with the most sharing of rides. That doesn’t just mean serial sharing of vehicles, with people travelling mostly individually in so-called “shared fleets” of self-driving taxis; more crucially, it means simultaneous sharing of vehicles, where a number of people ride together. (I’m sure you’ve noticed terms like “shared mobility” can be a bit hazy in this respect.) The latter kind of sharing, with people riding together, will be a much more powerful tool to reduce parking demand. Automated share taxis that move a handful of travellers at a time will be helpful to boost the sharing of rides; automated buses, with their high passenger capacities, will be an even more powerful tool.
I also made sure to get in the reminder that we already have ways to reduce how much land parking eats up in cities: “We don’t have to wait for robot taxis or [robot] shared taxis to prioritize urban space.”