Levine presents on the future transformation of self-driving vehicles

Jonathan Levine, the Emil Lorch Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, spoke at the recent Michigan Seminars held in Manalapan, Florida. The talk, presented jointly with Larry Burns from the College of Engineering, was about the future transformation of the transportation system based on self-driving vehicles. Levine noted that these technologies are currently in development and are likely to be available over the decade of the 2020s. This transformation promises significant benefits, including safety and mobility in an aging society. Downsides include potentially increased vehicle miles traveled and accelerated low-density auto-oriented development. Maximizing benefits and minimizing costs, this talk argued, are based on raising the profile of a shared deployment of automated vehicles — that is, giving people access to excellent transportation services regardless of whether they own a car.

The Michigan Seminars is an event series open to university donors at designated giving levels, taking place in various states outside of Michigan. Speakers represented are those whose research and work have a profound impact on the global community. Levine is an internationally recognized expert for his research on the potential and rationales for policy reform in transportation and land use. His current work focuses on the transformation of the transportation and land-use planning paradigm from mobility to an accessibility basis, explored in this seminar.