Parking Lots in a World of Self-Driving Cars

There’s a lot of talk about the future of cars, from new technology and cars that fly, to self-driven cars, and their pros and cons. Consider this: A typical vehicle spends 95% of its lifetime sitting in a parking spot so why waste space for it? Here’s a new study that looks at the impact of self-driving cars on parking lots.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have published a new study that shows that self-driving cars – also known as autonomous vehicles (AVs) – could significantly reduce the amount of valuable urban space dedicated to parking.

“In a parking lot full of AVs, you don’t need to open the doors, so they can park with very little space in between,” says Matthew Roorda, a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and senior author of a new study in Transportation Research Part B.

“You also don’t need to leave space for each car to drive out, because you can signal the surrounding AVs to move out of the way.”

Simulations

Using a computer simulation, researchers determined the perfect size of a parking lot that was entirely designed around accommodating self-driving cars. These parking lots can hold up to 62 per cent more vehicles.  Square-shaped AV parking lots could accommodate up to 87 per cent more cars.  Interestingly, the lots can adapt to changing needs, not by painting more lines, but by just signal the cars to rearrange themselves.

Driver-less cars drop off their passengers at a parking entrance and head to a designated spot. The average space per vehicle is estimated to decrease by 2 square meters per vehicle because the driving lanes become narrower, elevators and staircases become obsolete, and the required room for opening a vehicle’s doors becomes unnecessary.

There are upsides to the idea, some downsides, and areas that would need tweaking.  The idea could open up valuable space in city cores, including in those giant municipal lots near major attractions. However, locating new lots further out from the city may mean longer wait times for cars and, if everyone signals their cars at the same time, there could be potential for more traffic on city streets, especially during high-peak times.

Of course, the entire study is based on the idea that there are no cars with drivers and self-driving cars rule the streets. However, Audi and Tesla are collaborating with cities to introduce the first generation of these parking lots.

While these advances are certainly interesting, a lot would need to change for streets to become totally driverless, but it is coming.

Start your search

If you’re ready to start your search for vehicles that have some autonomous features then head to Ontariocars.ca. You can search by make, model, and location.

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