Proponents of autonomous vehicles (AV) consider them to be essential building blocks on the road to zero traffic deaths. Skeptics worry about the safety promises of AVS being overblown and distracting from nearer-term (and less sexy, well-funded) safety solutions.
On October 24, 2024, Vision Zero Network hosted a frank and purposeful discussion about the role that autonomous vehicles (AV) could or should play in advancing Vision Zero – road safety for all – in our communities. You can watch a recording of our 1-hour webinar here.
The discussion was built around this question: How do AVs fit into the Safe System approach that underlies Vision Zero?
We were joined by Phil Pierce, the City Policy Lead at Zoox, an on-demand autonomous ride-hailing company; Alexandra Sweet, the Transportation Policy Advisor in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office; Clarrissa Cabansagan, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition; and Billy Riggs, a professor at the University of San Francisco and Director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative.
There was agreement that we must set high expectations for AV safety. Benefits include the fact that AVs, if working well, can adhere to safety laws more consistently than human drivers. Think about the improvements in people adhering to lower speed limits if the vehicle, literally, can’t drive above the speed limit. And, in the case of Zoox, there are benefits to their designs being smaller than most vehicles with top-notch safety features, including doors that slide rather than swing out, risking dooring and injuring people biking by.
Another significant benefit is that AV ride-services can help serve people who live in “transit deserts” and lack walking and biking options. This can be a helpful last-mile solution for people who otherwise may drive individual, private cars. If more people have access to these kinds of vehicles, fewer people will need to own cars (or a family could cut down the number they own), helping finances, opening up more public space for better uses than parking and reducing the number of vehicles on the roads, benefitting safety, the environment and general livability in our communities.
At the same time, some have concerns about the buzz of AV technology outpacing the cohesive, public-minded planning that’s needed to ensure vehicles don’t dictate the design and priorities of our communities (again!). In short, how do we not let the tail of tech wag the dog of holistic community needs for safe, people-oriented spaces that are not dominated by motor vehicles.
We may be at an inflection point, as one panelist pointed out, with a real opportunity to challenge assumptions about how we use precious public space and improve transportation choices and right-size our trips. (As a reminder: 28% of trips in the U.S. are less than one mile, and 52% are less than three miles, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.) The real question is whether we will leverage new technologies, such as AVs, to build better communities and not repeat mistakes of the past.
Watch the recording of the webinar.
Read more about AVs and Vision Zero in our 2021 blog post.