Photo: Volvo
Autonomous cars are more suitable for some cities than others, and you would expect automakers and companies involved in the field to have an insight on the matter.
A recent study has ranked the top 50 U.S. cities based on numerous factors that show if the deployment of a self-driving fleet will make a difference.
The leading matter targeted by the team at INRIX was to see if a fleet of shared vehicles that can drive themselves would replace the greatest proportion of travel.
INRIX is a company that provides traffic analytics, which means that the specialists there know what they are talking about when it comes to offering a scientifically backed opinion of traffic.
The most interesting part of the study was that the cities usually reserved for driverless car tests were not at the top of the list, and some “popular destinations” for automakers in this direction are not present in the top 50.
For example, Pittsburgh, the city was chosen by Uber to test its fleet of self-driving cars, is not in the top 50 cities best suited for autonomous vehicles. Austin, Google’s second base for its driverless fleet, is in the 12th spot. The first city from California on the list is Fresno, which is placed in the seventh position.
Los Angeles is in the 15th spot when suitability for self-driving car testing is concerned. Seattle, another American tech hub, is in the 18th rank.
The list includes Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, San Francisco, and Long Beach, so the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are positioned in the right geographical area, but they must be willing to let their cars drive off a bit further to see how well they could improve traffic.
The creators of the study say this index can be utilized by mayors and city administrations, who could employ the information to find ways to improve infrastructure. The city where self-driving cars could make the biggest difference is New Orleans, followed closely by Albuquerque and Tucson. Portland and Omaha complete the top five of the list, all with scores above 89.20 out of 100.
We must note that it is not entirely wrong of Uber, Google, and other tech companies to test driverless vehicles in cities where they are not that suitable. Instead, we think they have the opportunity to develop an improved driverless vehicle solution that could handle anything the world could put in front of it, which will be essential for the success of the technology.
The leading matter targeted by the team at INRIX was to see if a fleet of shared vehicles that can drive themselves would replace the greatest proportion of travel.
INRIX is a company that provides traffic analytics, which means that the specialists there know what they are talking about when it comes to offering a scientifically backed opinion of traffic.
The most interesting part of the study was that the cities usually reserved for driverless car tests were not at the top of the list, and some “popular destinations” for automakers in this direction are not present in the top 50.
For example, Pittsburgh, the city was chosen by Uber to test its fleet of self-driving cars, is not in the top 50 cities best suited for autonomous vehicles. Austin, Google’s second base for its driverless fleet, is in the 12th spot. The first city from California on the list is Fresno, which is placed in the seventh position.
Los Angeles is in the 15th spot when suitability for self-driving car testing is concerned. Seattle, another American tech hub, is in the 18th rank.
The list includes Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, San Francisco, and Long Beach, so the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are positioned in the right geographical area, but they must be willing to let their cars drive off a bit further to see how well they could improve traffic.
The creators of the study say this index can be utilized by mayors and city administrations, who could employ the information to find ways to improve infrastructure. The city where self-driving cars could make the biggest difference is New Orleans, followed closely by Albuquerque and Tucson. Portland and Omaha complete the top five of the list, all with scores above 89.20 out of 100.
We must note that it is not entirely wrong of Uber, Google, and other tech companies to test driverless vehicles in cities where they are not that suitable. Instead, we think they have the opportunity to develop an improved driverless vehicle solution that could handle anything the world could put in front of it, which will be essential for the success of the technology.
Google News