They're not as cute as R2D2, but they have better intentions than a Cylon. Welcome our new robot parking attendants.
Kashmir Hill reports: "Uber drivers who pay a visit to the company’s inspection lot near Mission Bay in San Francisco will be met with a rather strange sight: a five-foot-tall, white, egg-shaped robot wheeling around the lot, on the look-out for trouble."
According to Hill, the robot goes by the name K5 and stands in for a human security guard. "The robot has multiple high-definition cameras for 360-degree vision, a thermal camera, a laser rangefinder, a weather sensor, a license-plate recognition camera, four microphones, and person recognition capabilities," explains Hill.
The robot has no weapons to subdue any trouble found while on patrol, but it can sound an alarm and record the events of any malfeasance. Hill adds commentary on the financial appeal of the robot parking enforcer as well as the implications for at least one kind of employment once reserved for humans.
FULL STORY: Uber hired a robot to patrol its parking lot and it’s way cheaper than a security guard
Opinion: Cities Must Take Action on Blighted Downtown Parking Lots
Surface parking lots take up as much as a third of downtown land in some cities, dragging down tax revenue and redevelopment prospects.
Rethinking the Notion of Parking as a Public Good
Parking shapes every element of the urban environment, often to the detriment of a place. Why do we subsidize public parking as a public good, and how can we move forward?
Des Moines Plans to Repurpose Downtown Parking Lots
City officials want to encourage the redevelopment of underused surface parking lots.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
How Urban Form Impacts Housing Affordability
The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
