Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of the Street: Choices for Berkeley

A conversation with professor and planner William (Billy) Riggs, PhD, AICP, LEED AP

Please join us in person on Wednesday, November 4, at noon at the AIA East Bay Conference Room, Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way #310, for a talk with urban planner, autonomous vehicle expert, and University of San Francisco professor Billy Riggs about how AVs could reshape Berkeley’s streets—and how we can shape that future.

As autonomous vehicle services expand in the Bay Area, Berkeley faces questions that reach well beyond where a Waymo should stop. How should we allocate public space among movement, parking, deliveries, outdoor gathering, and safe, accessible sidewalks? Can automated mobility help create more welcoming streets and reduce dependence on private cars? How can we plan for and harness the opportunity of this technology?

Riggs directs USF’s Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative and is the author of End of the Road: Reimagining the Street as the Heart of the City and Disruptive Transport. The former Principal Planner and Transportation Program Manager at UC Berkeley, having also worked as a planner at Arup and the US Coast Guard he brings a perspective grounded in urban design, transportation research, and practical experience working with cities and emerging mobility technologies.

Building on our spring sessions on streetscapes and sidewalks, his talk will explore a central idea: the benefits of autonomous mobility depend on how we design streets, manage access, and connect new services to public goals. The presentation and discussion will explore:

• Safety and traffic: What are we seeing with regard to how the technology impacts safety,  driving behavior and congestion?

• Parking and travel behavior: Could autonomous services reduce car ownership and parking demand? How might the effects differ across neighborhoods and over time?

• Curb design and access: How should pickup and drop-off space coexist with transit, deliveries, bicycle facilities, and access for people with disabilities? Should commercial operators pay to use the curb?

• Public space: What would it take to turn changes in parking demand into wider sidewalks, parklets, greenery, and more vibrant street life?

Join us to consider what architects, planners, policymakers, and residents can do now to make autonomous mobility support a more accessible, sustainable, and people-centered Berkeley.

Two reference papers inform the conversation and can be downloaded below:

• Reference paper #1: “Autonomous vehicles and public transit incentives: A Case study of Waymo’s pilot transit credit program in the San Francisco Bay Area”

• Reference paper #2: “In Search of Less Parking: How Curb Management Is Failing Future Mobility”

In addition to Professor Riggs’ discussion, members will consider changes to the BDA Bylaws at the end of the meeting.

Save it to your calendar now. This meeting will not be available via Zoom. To receive calendar invitations for this and our other events, join our email list. You're welcome to bring colleagues and share the invitation with others who would like to attend.

Many thanks to East Bay AIA for making their space available.

Creative Commons Image, Source: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “San Francisco (CA, USA), California Street, autonomes Fahrzeug (Waymo) -- 2022 -- 2925” / CC BY-SA 4.0