Towards Driverless Traffic: Are We Ready?

The concept of smart city is claimed to be able to overcome regular urban issues all over the world by using technology as its primary tool. Both government and civil society are trying hard to solve the city problems through various methods. For example, many governments are developing smart traffic management; using fiber optic, CCTV, command center, and other sophisticated features to manage traffics. Entrepreneurs are also found to be contributing in handling the issue, with many technology companies offer mechanisms enabling people to get easier and cheaper transportation mode, such as Uber. Today, the development is going more advanced. City governments in many countries are preparing for the next hit: ‘autonomous vehicles’ (AVs) or so called ‘driverless cars/buses’.

Several auto-mobile factories are currently developing the self-driving feature in their products, yet, this AVs project is trying to make the technology available for public transportation. Dubai views the AVs will take place 25% of all of transportation in the city by 2030. It is projected to generate economic revenues and savings of up to Dh22 billion (USD 6 billion) a year, reduce transportation costs by 44% or Dh 900 million (USD 245 million), save Dh 1.5 billion (USD 480 million) through reduction of environmental pollution, save Dh 18 billion (USD 4.9 billion) through raising efficiency of the transportation sector by 20%, increase productivity of individuals by 13% and save people up to 396 million hours of wasted times during travel on roads every year.[1] Beverly Hills City Council has approved plans for a driverless-car program that could replace the affluent Los Angeles neighborhood’s public transport system. The plan also calls for partnerships with manufacturers such as Google and Tesla, who are both developing autonomous vehicles (AVs). On a wider scale, the US has pledged $4 billion budget to roll out driverless cars across the country over the next decade.[2] In January 2016, the Netherlands had its first driverless buses, named ‘WEpod,’ traveling on the roads with the capacity of 6 in each unit.[3] Similar projects are being tested or already operating in big cities of United States, European Union countries, East Asian countries, and Singapore.

The arrival of driverless cars signifies a progress towards a more advanced smart city. It may reduce the risk of car crash, minimize the loss caused by it, provide more rooms in vehicle for commuters, as well as decrease the number of pollution, as many AVs are developed to meet the needs of environmentally friendly technology. But, city governments have to be careful in dealing with the issue since replacing human force by employing machine has a series of unhappy history, as shown in industrial revolution age. Undoubtedly, AVs will be a new competitor for the incumbent businesses – or let’s say, drivers – especially if the plan initiated is ‘to replace’ the current system. Possible consequences may range from drivers losing their jobs and transportation businesses losing their privileges. If the emergence of Uber gains resistance globally, the upcoming arrival of AVs trend is more likely to face similar backlashes. Governments must manage to meet all parties’ interests and seek for win-win solution for the sake of greater goods.

Furthermore, the challenge also comes in term of capacity. United Nations reported that 54% of world’s population live in urban areas in 2014 and the number is predicted to grow to 66% by 2050.[4] This means that the self-driving technology must also provide more rooms – not only just an extra seat used to be occupied by the driver –  to meet the future demand, while in fact, most of today’s AVs can only fit 6-12 people per unit. Scientists are expected to provide AVs accommodating more individuals per unit.

picture credit: pexels.com

[1] M. Achkhanian, ‘25% of all transportation in Dubai will be smart and driverless by 2030: Mohammad Bin Rashid,’ Gulf News (online), 25 April 2016, , accessed 30 June 2016.

[2] De Zeen Magazines, Beverly Hills to replace public transport with self-driving cars (online), 19 April 2016, , accessed 30 June 2016.

[3] M. Murgia, ‘First driverless buses travel public roads in the Netherlands,’ The Telegraph (online), 28 January 2016, , accessed 30 June 2016.

[4] Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations ,
World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights, 2014, p. 1.