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Great Britain Dreams of a Future Without High Street Car Parks or Parking Spaces

Great Britain is eyeing a 2021 date for fully-functional driverless cars on the roads, and with that date could come other, just as significant changes.
Oxbotica is testing driverless cars in London 4 photos
Photo: Oxbotica
Oxbotica's leading program to test self-driven carsOxbotica's leading program to test self-driven carsOxbotica's leading program to test self-driven cars
For instance, the housing crisis could be resolved by taking the current high street car parks and parking spaces and repurposing them. They could be turned into urban homes and housing apartments, the Government writes in its Last Mile and Future of Mobility report, as cited by The Sun.

The idea is simple: once driverless cars become the norm, those parking spots will no longer be needed. The report states that cars could drive themselves to a parking structure outside the city once people use them to get to work or wherever they need to be.

Plus, being driverless, they will be more compact, so whatever parking space will be needed, it will definitely be smaller, The Sun notes.

The potential increased use of self-driving vehicles and shared travel could also allow the majority of parking spaces to be removed in city centers, opening areas up for redevelopment and potentially hundreds of thousands of new urban homes,” the report reads.

Minister of Transport Jesse Norman says that £12.1million will be allotted to 6 projects in this sense. He is convinced that the 2021 deadline is realistic and will mark the start of a new age.

“We are on the cusp of an exciting and profound change in how people, goods and services move around the country which is set to be driven by extraordinary innovation,” Norman says. “This could bring significant benefits to people right across the country and presents enormous economic opportunities for the UK, with autonomous vehicles sales set to be worth up to £52 billion by 2035.”

At the same time, voices from within the automotive industry are saying the contrary. Just recently, Dr. Ian Robertson, BMW special representative to the UK, noted that driverless cars couldn’t become a reality anytime soon unless a change in current legislation happened first.
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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