Transformation in urban space management as a consequence of use of autonomous vehicles
Nowadays, drivers need to walk to the parking location in order to pick up their cars. Using autonomous vehicles (AVs), this walking distance would not be necessary anymore as AVs could take passengers at origin and drop them at the destination and, after that, search for a parking space. Considering the efficiency of AVs on parking and a shared autonomous vehicle fleet, the required number of parking lots might be decreased. Accordingly, today’s urban parking may have a huge transformation. On-street parking might be replaced to spaces in automatized garage buildings out of the inner cities, leading to a more dynamic downtown area which might promote walkability with wider sidewalks, bike lanes and parklets, as well as areas, focused on well-being such as parks, squares and green areas. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the impacts on urban space management, mainly urban parking processes, caused by the use of autonomous vehicles. Articles published in recognized journals might be used as a base of the knowledge and, consequently, critical thinking may bring additional ideas. After that, a study case in an area of Budapest is performed in order to estimate these impacts, considering different scenarios which would include private vehicles or sharing system, parking garages with or without automatization and location of them and/or the number of parking lots. The results facilitate the benefits brought with the use of AVs and support changes in ideas about the use of AVs, increasing the acceptance of them by society.
