More development space in London: There are around 800 hectares of land used to provide 6.8 million car parking spaces in London. Freeing up this land to development new homes, workspaces and green spaces is highly desirable and could be worth billions according to research by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. The report, Making Better Places: Autonomous Vehicles in Britain claims this could be possible in the future through the introduction of driverless or ‘autonomous’ vehicles (AVs). These cars would negate the need for city car parks. They would pick up and drop off passengers and then move on to pick up the next passenger. When not in use they could park in storage facilities on the outskirts of the city.
Rachel Skinner, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff development director and report author, said: “Each hectare of additional developable land is worth millions. Freeing up this land will create more viable developments that will increase housing and boost UK plc. Shared autonomous vehicles will require storage hubs, but not parking spaces. This means we can redesign our town squares, reclaim our driveways and build more densely in cities.
Working together, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff and Farrells the architects company built on leading-edge research into connected and autonomous vehicles to create five new visions for what places in the UK might look like in an autonomous vehicle world from a new dedicated AV zone to, city centres, suburban roads, motorways, and the local county town.
