WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff - Driving towards driverless

WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff US-based manager for Sustainable Transportation Lauren Isaac, who is to speak on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) at the forthcoming ITS World Congress in Melbourne, suggests in a research paper, Driving Towards Driverless, that new AV world will be either a nightmare or utopia. She suggests that which scenario plays out will largely depend on the amount of vehicle sharing future road users are prepared to accept. For example, close to full automation and ride sharing would e
October 7, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

6666 WSP/4983 Parsons Brinckerhoff US-based manager for Sustainable Transportation Lauren Isaac, who is to speak on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) at the forthcoming ITS World Congress in Melbourne, suggests in a research paper, Driving Towards Driverless, that new AV world will be either a nightmare or utopia. She suggests that which scenario plays out will largely depend on the amount of vehicle sharing future road users are prepared to accept. For example, close to full automation and ride sharing would equal utopia, while the opposite would result in a ‘driverless nightmare’ situation.

“Of utmost importance is finding a balance between guarding public safety while regulating insurance/liability and simultaneously encouraging investment in research and development of driverless vehicles and their implementation and integration into our transportation system,” she says.

Isaac says it is government action – now and in the future – that will determine how AVs are integrated into society and if the impacts are largely positive or negative.

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Driverless cars ‘a reality on roads’ within 15 years
    October 5, 2015
    Driverless cars will be commonplace within five years in controlled environments – and on our roads in 15 years. That was the prediction of EC commissioner for mobility and transport Violeta Bulc as the 22nd ITS World Congress opened yesterday in Bordeaux.
    Read More
  • OPINION: ITS must be included in EU Green Deal
    September 14, 2022
    To reach the objectives of the European Green Deal, a classification system has been developed to identify environmentally-sustainable activities. However, Richard Lax of Kapsch TrafficCom is worried that it might not have the intended effect – and ITS could lose out as a result…
    Read More
  • ServCity AV project reaches final test
    February 20, 2023
    Three-year initiative in London has aimed to demonstrate practicalities of urban robotaxis
    Read More
  • Time for a rethink on road user charging
    February 1, 2012
    There is no value in further US VMT charging trials, except to delay the inevitable. These trials should end after completion of the University of Iowa's National Evaluation of a Mileage-based Road User Charge. There is far greater promise in unleashing private operators to commence profitable, non-tolling services, then using these for toll assessment and collection as fuel distributors are currently used to collect fuel taxation. Bern Grush writes
    Read More

Highlighted Content