As autonomous cars scan and experiment their way toward the mainstream with the help of automakers and tech companies, it is becoming increasingly clear that their arrival may necessitate changes to our public infrastructure. While some automakers and cities are beginning to dabble in car-to-car and car-to-X communication networks, improved road markings, and the like, there’s been no high-profile, broad push for vehicular and infrastructural preparedness for autonomous cars?until now. This week, Bloomberg’s philanthropic arm and the Aspen Institute announced just that at the CityLab 2016 conference in Miami.
The gist of the endeavor, dubbed the Bloomberg Aspen Initiative on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles, is to help mayors of major cities develop “a set of principles and tools that participating cities, as well as cities around the world, can use to chart their own paths forward” with regard to autonomous-car implementation. The implications go far beyond special autonomous-car lanes or communication networks, however. Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute are approaching this issue from a socioeconomic and regional-planning perspective, collaborating with mayors and folks like John Zimmer, co-founder and president of the Lyft autonomous-anticipatory ride-sharing service.
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