Re: Why city planners love autonomous vehicles
Fewer car parking spaces means more for living, which either means higher densities and potentially lower rents.
Still a flawed case, I fear. If we start with the assumption that people will still travel to work by car (now "autonomous") because - if nothing else - the rail transport system is incapable of providing sufficient additional space then if there is no local parking the cars will have to take themselves to some location that isn't local.
Where exactly? We now have a situation whereby a vehicle has to travel empty perhaps almost as far as it travelled with its passenger(s) which is hopelessly inefficient in fuel usage (the vehicle will need more charging than it would have done if it had parked close to its daytime destination) and will actually add to congestion, not reduce it. At least at the moment commuter cars are out of the way once they are at their destination; take away the daytime parking and they will have to remain on the road, which doesn't look all that sensible.
The solution to a problem must not involve creating an even bigger one, and IMHO your "solution" would do just that.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
