Autonomous Vehicles: A Real Estate Road Map to the Future

16th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference Presentation

St. Louis, Missouri

Speakers: Adam Ducker, Managing Director, RCLCO; David Strickland, Partner, Venable LLP; Former Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Invited), Ryan Snyder, President, Ryan Snyder Associates

Transportation has arguably changed more in the last five years then in the last 50 years, thanks to technological advances, the prevalence of smart phones and more mobility applications. Google plans to make autonomous vehicles available to the public in 2020. Ford and Volvo have similar timelines, and experts predict that self-driving cars will probably emerge en mass in about a decade. Meanwhile, Uber launched a test of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh last fall, and General Motors and Lyft will begin testing a fleet of self-driving, electric taxis within the year. These exciting changes have the potential to drastically alter our age-old assumptions about driving behavior and infrastructure needs – from parking and refueling to housing patterns and roadway improvements. Local governments must be ready to optimize community benefits that can be created from this transformative shift in transportation. This plenary will feature leading transportation experts discussing how local governments can plan for the new mobility future by tackling local regulations, land-use implications and considerations about social equity.