AVs are coming!

AVs are coming!!

AVs are coming!!!

This month we covered Autonomous Vehicles and how they will impact the future of the transportation industry. In Portland we were joined by guest speakers Jim Lightbody, Senior Consulting Manager at AECOM, and Daniel Fernández, Autonomy Engineer & Automotive Representative on the ODOT Task Force on Autonomous Vehicles. Jim gave an overview of the City of Mountain View Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) Study and Daniel discussed the future of testing Autonomous Vehicle (AV) in Oregon and the current legislation.

Currently, there is no federal legislation governing the specific levels of autonomy for driverless cars. Some states are passing laws to allow testing and deployment of AVs and Oregon is one them.

The Task Force on Autonomous Vehicles was established in 2018 through House Bill 4063 to develop recommendations to help guide state policy for AV testing in Oregon. The Task Force includes OEMs, state departments, labor unions, and other stakeholders and is led by the Oregon Department of Transportation. H.B. 4063 charged the Task Force to develop recommendations on four policy areas:

• Licensing and Registration
• Law Enforcement and Crash Reporting
• Insurance and Liability
• Cybersecurity and Long-Term Policy

The Task Force submitted a report with recommendations to the legislature on September 10, 2018. The report incorporates regulations and existing laws from nearby states like California, Arizona and Nevada. 

You can view Daniel’s presentation here:

The AGT study took place in Mountain View, a city with a population of 81,000 located in Santa Clara County, California. With an estimated growth of 10,000+ jobs in N Bayshore by 2030 and expected City job and household growth of 33% by 2040, AGT is being looked at as a solution intended to be one piece of the overall mobility.

The goal of the study was to determine which AGT technologies are feasible and best-suited to Mountain View travel needs and the characteristics of the Downtown-North Bayshore corridor. puzzle.

Next steps for the AGT Study:

• Evaluation of alignment options and coordination with North Bayshore and NASA development plans.
• Evaluation of other transportation technology options
• Evaluation of fleet size
• Evaluation of potential implementation and funding strategies; public/private partnership

Finally, we ended with a quote from Bruce Schaller, Principal of Schaller Consulting on the new automobility: Lyft, Uber and the future of American cities.

 “Without public policy intervention, however, the first steps into an autonomous future are almost certain to greatly exacerbate big-city traffic congestion.” 

You can view Jim’s presentation here: