Tom Vanderbilt writes about the current crop of self-driving cars in Wired. "After almost a hundred years in which driving has remained essentially unchanged, it has been completely transformed in just the past half decade."
Vanderbilt tracks the stunning advances in autonomous automobiles achieved over just the last few years; and it won't be long until our cars drive themselves.
"The last time I was in a self-driving car-Stanford University's 'Junior,' at the 2008 World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems-the VW Passat went 25 miles per hour down two closed-off blocks. Its signal achievement seemed to be stopping for a stop sign at an otherwise unoccupied intersection. Now, just a few years later, we are driving close to 70 mph with no human involvement on a busy public highway-a stunning demonstration of just how quickly, and dramatically, the horizon of possibility is expanding. "This car can do 75 mph," [Chris] Urmson says. "It can track pedestrians and cyclists. It understands traffic lights. It can merge at highway speeds."
Read the full story: Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future Is Here
Michigan Bill Would Be First to Allow Cars to Drive Without Humans
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One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority