Automated vehicles are more than just a transportation issue for cities and states, and could mean declining transportation revenue and increased sprawl and congestion.
Those are some of the possible “cascading” impacts on communities brought about by the rise of driverless vehicles in the future, according to Nico Larco, director of the Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon.
Larco testified Wednesday during a House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure hearing on the “Road Ahead for Automated Vehicles.”
On the plus side, cities could see an increase in land availability from unnecessary parking lots as well as more affordable housing and less greenhouse emissions, Larco said.
It was the committee’s first hearing on AVs since 2013, and comes as lawmakers consider crafting a regulatory framework for the growing technology.
“Automated vehicles are on the cusp of transforming our surface transportation system,” said
Driverless vehicles don't require new surface infrastructure but will need well-maintained roads with strong striping, fog lines and signage, said Committee Chair and Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio.
“The deployment and operation of these vehicles is going to be an extraordinary challenge for federal regulators and shouldn’t be done state by state, we need some reasonable guidelines federally,” DeFazio said.
Safety and job loss garnered the most attention from lawmakers, who peppered witnesses with questions about how Congress could retain good jobs in the face of automation.
Larco said Congress should launch a pilot program and research into what the technology could mean for cities and states outside of the transportation sector.
“Much research has been done on AV technology and on the transportation impacts, but what is largely missing and much needed is an understanding of AVs’ impacts on land use, urban design, building design, and real estate – and an understanding of the implications this will have on equity, health, the environment, and the economy,” Larco said in his prepared testimony.
He cited a 2021 report from the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives that warned cities face the loss of between 3% and 51% of their transportation revenue from the “three revolutions of electrification, automation, and [ride] sharing.”
City and state representatives urged Congress to fund pilot programs to help develop national safety guidelines, worker-training programs and a strong vision as the technology continues to grow.
States “firmly believe” that AVs – in particular connected autonomous vehicles, or CANs – will improve the safety, equity and sustainability of the nation’s transportation system, said Scott Marler, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation who spoke on behalf of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
But the “pathway and timeline” to deployment remains unclear, as high-level AVs are unlikely to become commercially available for many years, he said.
AASHTO is meanwhile pushing for a national strategy and vision, developed with input from all levels of government, Marler said.
States also want more flexibility and federal funding – not necessarily through discretionary grant programs – to invest in the necessary infrastructure, he said.
The organization also wants Congress to preserve the 5.9 GHz wireless spectrum band for transportation communication needs. AASHTO is currently in court fighting the Federal Communication Commission’s 2020 order that opened the spectrum up to unlicensed devices.
The National League of Cities also urged Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund a national pilot program that stretches across the country, in different climates, in order to develop strong federal safety guidelines. Martha Castex-Tatum, vice mayor pro tem of Houston, called cities “ideal laboratories” for testing new mobility models like AV.”
Castex-Tatum urged Congress to
