An efficient and well-connected mobility system forms the backbone of a city, allowing access to a range of amenities and opportunities, and supporting social and economic activities. As mobility continues to evolve, Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) has emerged as yet another technological advancement that we could potentially harness, presenting many possibilities for transforming the way we live, work, play and move.
AVs are vehicles that can sense their environment and hence move with little or no human intervention. AVs sense their location and surroundings by gathering input from their suite of sensors. These sensors include cameras, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). They enable the AV to chart an efficient path towards its destination, while safely avoiding obstacles along its journey.
By optimising routing through intelligent algorithms and moving more efficiently, AVs may help to reduce traffic congestion and optimise road space by freeing up land for other uses. Hence, street space could potentially be reclaimed and re-designed for other uses, such as cycling lanes or greenery.
AVs can potentially enhance the convenience and accessibility of first-and-last mile connectivity for persons with mobility challenges, such as seniors, through the provision of on-demand and dynamically routed autonomous bus and shuttle services.
With increasing delivery volumes, AVs can serve to enhance business efficiency and improve customer convenience and experience by enabling contactless deliveries and supporting delivery and utility activities during off-peak hours.
A future street layout should respond to the needs of users, prioritising walking, cycling and public transport, with AVs complementing these primary transport modes. Streets and crossings will ideally emphasise a people-first outcome instead of a traditional vehicle-first outcome.
Road network planning across Singapore has traditionally followed a hierarchical approach. A new classification system can be introduced for a more people-centric approach, where streets are tailored for different functions, modes, and speeds. For example, design and engineering firm Arup is exploring a ‘Movement and Place’ (M&P) framework for Singapore’s context.
In this framework, the ‘Boulevard’ is planned as a key movement corridor for public transport that will be connected by AV multi-purpose or community hubs.
The ‘Shared Space’ prioritises pedestrians and cyclists, a space that is set aside to connect them to the nearest bus-stop or train station. It is envisioned to be nearly car-free, with exceptions made only for emergency and service vehicles as well as the restricted use of last-mile slow-speed AVs for vulnerable users. Design interventions can also be put in place to minimise conflict among the different street users.
‘Place’ is designated as people-only green corridors, which can form a network across town with public spaces for the local community to interact, rest and play across the town.
Due to their automated and highly precise access and parking manoeuvres, AVs can park themselves closer to each other as compared to human-driven vehicles. This, together with the reduced need to allocate space for walkways and safety buffers that traditional parking would require, will make future car park layouts more space-efficient.
Additionally, parking space is likely to be further reduced if most AVs are fleet-owned and shared. Good urban design could enable AVs to be stored in a shared ‘hub’, located away from prime districts, instead of being parked and distributed in many buildings across the island. This would free up existing car park space for other amenities that could meet different needs and competing land use demands.
As AVs can either be parked automatically or routed to the nearest shared ‘hub’ for storage, traditional factors such as availability of parking or distance between car park and one’s destination will no longer be a concern in the future. Passengers or AV users would then place greater importance on the convenience of their origin and destination points. As such, PUDOs where users board and alight from the AVs may have to be redesigned to provide a more seamless and intuitive experience for passengers, and for the AVs to manoeuvre through smoothly.
New design ideas could be applied for the two types of PUDOs, on-street and off-street.
On-street PUDOs AVs could increase the demand for on-street PUDOs. This in turn provides opportunities to rethink the use of road kerbs, in terms of how they can be designed and managed in a more flexible manner to accommodate different road users at different times of the day
Arup’s FlexKerb concept is one such example, where on-street PUDOs can operate on dedicated lanes or have dynamic kerbside management. Such ideas can reduce congestion at the PUDO and accommodate vehicles of different sizes while efficiently optimising space.
In the future, PUDOs will no longer be just a place for commuters to board and alight but will also turn into lively community destinations with fully integrated public transport services and amenities to facilitate seamless journeys via AVs.
For example, global design firm Scott Brownrigg has developed a design for an integrated transport hub of the future, where buildings are repurposed to create a vibrant interactive environment co-occupied by AVs and people.
This includes implementing a vending machine-like system in former multi-storey car parks, which efficiently stacks, stores, charges, and cleans vehicles. This would free up space used as ramps and parking decks for social activities and improve user safety by separating vehicular and pedestrian routes. Neighbourhoods can also be transformed through the mobilisation of services facilitated by AVs, supporting various activities taking place across the city.