The Sustainability of Automated Transport


This was based on a lecture I attended titled 'Sustainable Urban Mobility', given by Nick Reed. It was primarily about automation, and about the Greenwich GATEway project

The Stages of Automation
We are on the cusp of an Automated Revolution. Since the Agricultural Revolution, man has been trying to do things quicker, easier, and more efficiently. The advent of automation has brought about a variety of technological advancements; from UAVs, to Roomba's, and now transport. The need for automated transport has never been greater- using less fuel per mile, they play an essential part in reducing municipal carbon emissions. Not only this, they are statistically safer than manned vehicles as 94% of car accidents are a result of human error. At a first glance, it appears automation is a fast track to a sustainable urban utopia; however, there are other consequences to be considered before removing the steering wheel.

By replacing a human by a computer, you essentially remove any dangers that are a result of human error. Whether it be driving under the influence, poor conditions, or simply a slow reaction time, all of these can result in a traffic accident. The congestion that follows reduces efficiency, lowering quality of life and losing millions of pounds for every hour delayed. By going automatic, you potentially remove these problems. However, that's not to say the technology itself will not be without human impact. In the USA, 3.5 million people are employed as truckers; it is the biggest job sector in 29 states- by going automatic, millions will be unemployed. The unemployment will save the trucking economy over $168 billion in fuel, wages, and time, but is that money worth mass unemployment? Perhaps if it was spent on upskilling their newly-redundant workforce, but the chances of that are slim.

Implementation on a smaller scale however, could improve the accessibility of an urban area. Semi-automated cars designed for disabled drivers are being tested as a means of aiding parking in busy areas. The idea is that the driver stops near the space, exits the vehicle, and then remotely parks the car in a space too small to be used by a wheelchair user. By doing this, municipal governments could remove wheelchair-only parking and use the space more efficiently for multiple, smaller spaces. Although the technology is not without fault (the mobile signal occasionally drops), with further development it has the potential to make a city accessible for all.

Automated transport could alter settlement design. By being able to travel a greater distance in a shorter amount of time, it encourages urban sprawl. This has problems in itself- not every car or bus will be automatic, so their fuel consumption will increase. In addition, by increasing the size of a city, you make it harder to reach places on foot, encouraging further driving. One way this could be combatted is by using roads as cycle lanes as well; automated cars only need narrow roads as they drift far less. This means that roads can be modified to allow bikes. In the case of Brazil, some roads have been replaced entirely by automated tram line and bike lanes.

The future of this new technology is uncertain, the many applications in the transport industry have both their positives and negatives. At this point, it is impossible to assess the impact on a locale, as every place is different.



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