Autonomous Road Vehicles: Challenges for Urban Planning in European Cities

Autonomous vehicles will significantly affect mobility conditions in the future. The changes in mobility conditions are expected to have an impact on urban development and, more specifically, on location choices, land use organisation and infrastructure design. Nowadays, there is not enough data for a real-life assessment of this impact. Experts estimate that autonomous vehicles will be available for uptake in the next decade. Therefore, urban planners should consider the possible impacts from autonomous vehicles on cities and the future challenges for urban planning. In this context, the present paper focuses on the challenges from the implementation of autonomous road vehicles for passenger transport in European cities. The analysis is based on a systematic review of research and policy. The main outcome of the analysis is a set of challenges for urban planning regarding the features of urban development, the local and European policy priorities, the current lack of data for planning and the potential for autonomous vehicles to be used by planners as data sources. The paper concludes that tackling these challenges is essential for the full exploitation of the autonomous vehicles’ potential to promote sustainable urban development.