The Driverless City

The Driverless City: The implementation of a public autonomous transit system and its impact on spatial quality of the public realm in Toronto

Parbhoesingh, D.V.D.

Tillie, N.M.J.D. (mentor)
van der Hoeven, F.D. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Urbanism

Urban Metabolism and Smart Cities

2016-11-07

The timeline for mobility starts with the invention of the wheel 11.500 years ago. Another 5.500 years pass before the next paradigm shift of the wheeled car. A gradual series of technological advances eventually accelerated to the invention of the first ‘’auto’’mobile. During the 20th centure things are speeding up: Automatic transmission, highways, GPS navigation and during the last decade we see the first breakthroughs in automated driving and safety systems (Ingels & Klok, 2015). Autonomous driving promises to be the most far-reaching advance in mobility since the invention of the automobile itself. Cities are the place where self-driving vehicles are most likely to fundamentally change how people live, work, and, of course, get around (Lang et al., 2016). Far fewer accidents and much lower costs, as well as higher traffic efficiency, improved productivity, and lower pollution are just some of the anticipated benefits. Research by Lang et al. (2016) indicates, for example, that widespread urban adoption of self-driving vehicles and “robo-taxis” (and, especially shared self-driving taxis) could result in a 60% drop in the number of cars on city streets, and 90% fewer road accidents. The goal of the graduation project is to explore in what sense autonomous driving could improve the spatial quality of the public realm in the city of Toronto.

smart cities
autonomous vehicle
self-driving cars
transit oriented development
urban mobility

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:1c90f20d-4fcb-47a8-bb76-7cf191dcd780

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Parbhoesingh, D.V.D.