autonomous vehicles: what about the pedestrians?

Polis Conference, Brussels, Belgium

Mark Meeder

Autonomous vehicles: What about the pedestrians?

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(edit in slide master via “View” > “Slide Master”)

Slate, Oct. 2014

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Self-driving cars are coming. Or are they?

Electrek, Feb. 2017


(edit in slide master via “View” > “Slide Master”)07/12/2017Mark Meeder 3

Self-driving cars are coming.

Medium.com/waymo



How?

Incremental vs. Disruptive or: Car makers vs. Google (and Uber, and …)

Long-distance trucks on freeways? Self-parking cars?

Let’s assume fully autonomous cars (SAE level 5) will be the norm.



Self-driving cars and pedestrians: Two topics

Navarro et al., 2017

By McGeddon (Own work)



What about the pedestrians themselves?

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*mk3C0UTr_IzDLwuQutF7Kw.jpeg SimpleIcon http://www.simpleicon.com/



What do pedestrians need?

One of our students, Samuel Urech, researched this question in his Master’s

thesis:

«Parameters of walkability: A meta-analysis»

Main Question: Which elements of the neighborhood and streetscape influence

walking attractiveness, and to what extent?



Meta-analysis of literature

Find all existing quantitative studies on walkability

(over 180 sources)

Filter them to find the useful ones:

Well-defined parameters

Quantitatively comparable

22 Studies remain, containing 184 useful

parameters

Sort parameters in categories, resulting in 34

useful subcategories

Rank all parameters by their average importance

within each study

Source: Urech (2017)



Ranking of walkability factors by relative importance

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Results

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Question 1: Will cars need more space?

Image: Newsweek



Question 2: Will private car ownership still be the most common

model?

Image: Laitr Keiows



Question 3: Will mass public transport become superfluous?

Image: Postauto Schweiz AGImage: Talkurbex.com, user: theboatmam



Question 4: Will car use on short trips explode?

Maps.google.com Image: Imstagram / Washington Post



Question 5: Will cars effortlessly avoid crossing pedestrians?



Which parameters will change the most?

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Conclusion

Extreme scenarios might seem unlikely but they are not out of the question.

Walking will be impacted most by:

Increased incentive to (let the car) drive

Improved safety

Redesign (or removal) of sidewalks

The ownership question is likely the driving force.

The key might be regulation of parking space. But you would have to regulate

empty rides, too.

Let’s start the discussion.

Questions?



Mark Meeder

[email protected]

ETH Zürich

Institut für Verkehrsplanung

und Transportsysteme (IVT)

Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5

8093 Zürich

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autonomous vehicles: what about the pedestrians?

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