The up and coming: traffic and transport in future cities

A fundamental aspect of the new autonomous driving is the designability of the behaviour of AVs. In a future city of AVs, the behavioural uncertainty of human drivers is replaced by the predictability of AVs as a result of algorithmic driving. Collaboration between AVs will give the opportunity to control traffic at higher levels for groups of vehicles, or even all vehicles, and drastically increase traffic efficiency. A combination of AV behaviour design and geofencing technologies will transform street design and the design of urban spaces to match social and environmental objectives, as well as meet traffic goals.

This chapter contains two main parts. The first part pictures a future of traffic on road networks and its management. The second presents a future of public transport, with CAVs forming trains on the move and in which passengers can change carriages that are detachable to reach their destinations. Such a public transport system, with environmentally friendly electric vehicles, designed with appropriate driving behaviour, would also allow services to go deep into catchment areas and help to establish public transport as the first mode of choice for travel, broadening opportunities for designing and developing human-focused cities.