Autonomous vehicles without the appropriate connected infrastructure are unlikely to achieve their full promise. Smart city connectivity plays a crucial in this.
Autonomous vehicles without the appropriate connected infrastructure are unlikely to achieve their full promise.
Smart city connectivity plays a crucial in this. The interrelationship with smart cities and the weaknesses in infrastructure is likely to offer a further challenge. Although there are many cities experimenting with projects, and investment in smart city solutions projected to hit $135 billion (€119.32 billion) by 2021 globally12, they are far from widespread. Connected transport systems are an often cited area of interest, but, as has been seen in the UK, upfront costs and planning are a significant barrier. For instance, often seed funding enables a starter project, but it fails to scale or grow when initial public funding runs out. Even in examples such as Singapore, the poster child for smart cities, the integration of data across different services has proven to be a challenge13. The task of reengineering back office siloed systems to become fully integrated is a significant task which takes multiple stakeholders, serious leadership and a considerable amount of time. Yet the importance of the link with the value of the CAV’s and AV’s can not be understated. Common protocols and communications standards will have to be devised and negotiated, as they were with internet communication protocols or the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) for mobile phones. This transition will take years, possibly decades.
Despite the difficulties there are hundreds of projects across the globe focused on smart city solutions, from the introduction of city-wide digital platforms designed to gather, aggregate and analyse data from various sources, through to environmental monitoring or drone usage. Cities are vying with fierce competition to be the leading global smart city, setting in motion a positive direction of travel for the longer-term optimisation of AV’s and CAV’s.
Given the potential benefits of both AV’s, and in the broader context smart cities, there is considerable incentive to want them to succeed.