Beyond the driverless testing bubbles of San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Austin where autonomous vehicles have found mostly enthusiastic homes, most cities have remained silent and let their state governments express enthusiasm or trepidation about the transportation revolution. Some, like Toronto, New York, Boston, and Atlanta, have made some noises.
Now we have a few smaller cities, technically medium size, that are begging or already laying out the red carpet for companies to come test.
Keeping it weird
Portland, Oregon, home of artisnal everything, lots of backyard chickens, and tons of tatooed people, has put the word out on its cute streets. The city is quickly drafting regulations to allow autonomous vehicle pilot programs and "specifically looking to attract programs that actively enhance Portland's current transit infrastructure or improve accessibility while also helping the city reduce its carbon emissions. The city will finalize its autonomous vehicle regulations after a two year test period." (Endgadget post, 4/19/17)
The mayor's vision is not the Pittsburgh approach of attracting one company. Rather Portland seeks to be corporate agnostic, if you will, and take all comers. All is not craft beer and homemade funky clothes, however, because not all of the Portland council city council is in agreement about setting out the autonomous car welcome mat. This remains a big question mark at the moment.
Hello Jerry!
Meanwhile, out in normally quiet and staid Sacramento, CA., the state capital, home to Governor Jerry Brown - and no, you did not wake up from a 1970s dream of the future - there is enthusiastic activity already going on to make the city a "test bed" for autonomous vehicle testing. The unspecified companies meeting with Sacramento officials probably already have permission to test on California roads. That's a complete guess, by the way.
Even the owner of the basketball team, the Sacramento Kings, is on board. The city seems to be united and ready.
Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains
Knoxville, TN, is getting an Olli autonomous transit shuttle. Soon to be tested and taken out for spins during events, the shuttle is pencilled in for "full phase" - I assume that means actual operation - next year. Take that Manhattan - it may be Poughkeepsie gets driverless before you.
Issues outlined a/k/a questions to think about
Meanwhile, two recent reports have come out that are relevant for city planners. The first, from the National League of Cities, outlines the issues that cities should ponder and begin planning for in relation to autonomous and connected vehicle technologies. Autonomous Vehicles: A Policy Preparation Guide briefly discusses transportation and the mixture of partially and completely autonomous vehicles for an audience mostly unaware of the differences, but the report also points out privacy, cybersecurity, and other issues that will shape the autonomous experience.
The second report is A Look at the Legal Environment for Driverless Vehicles, an in-depth examination of the myriad legal issues - federal, state, and judicial - that will affect the adoption and regulation of the coming transportation transformation. Produced by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) legal publication division, this publication is an excellent exploration of product liability, privacy, cybersecurity, insurance, crimes, criminal procedure, and other issues, with wonderful information about statutes, regulatory regimes, and caselaw. The report falls down a bit in the prediction department, but where it sticks to legal analysis it is a fantastic read.
This is a web not only of different areas of the law and different responsibilities, from administrative agencies to the courts, but also of different levels of government - local, state, and federal - having their fingers in the pie. The report lays out this complex matrix quite nicely. It's a great read for transportation law nerds. Guilty here on both.
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