With new developments popping up in Atlanta these days, it’s apparent that this bustling southern city is showing no signs of slowing down. One of the newest plans for the city is the integration of self-driving cars.
The idea to get this fully in motion has been in the works for a while, and if all goes well, the plan for a demonstration would be around September. Self-driving cars have been relevant for the past couple of years undergoing all sorts of tests to see if this could be a viable solution for transportation, but it hasn’t been tested to its fullest.
Last month the Department of Transportation designated 10 cities nationwide as “proving grounds” for self-driving car programs. Among them is Atlanta—North Avenue more specifically. This street is one of the busiest in the city with traffic heading into midtown and Georgia Tech. On top of that, the pedestrian traffic is heavy and predominantly students walk the streets.
It’s big hurdle to overcome, but it will ensure that the integration of these automated cars will not cause any harm or problems. The preliminary measures would be installing cameras and sensors on the street to monitor the patterns and gather useful data.
Currently, there are people in favor of the idea and those that oppose, but that is to be expected. Skeptics believe that this idea won’t be much of an improvement to the city and will only further the problem. With traffic in Atlanta as bad as it is, adding a whole new variable is a questionable move. If it has the potential to prevent traffic, then it can be a big improvement to the city.
Atlanta has been rated as the 8th most congested city in the world. Yes, in the world. Atlanta falls behind Los Angeles and New York, and a few others. Inrix, a transportation analytics firm has compiled all kinds of data about driving in Atlanta and stated that drivers spend and average of 71 hours in traffic a year. That’s almost three days of sitting in traffic.
If this driverless car idea can improve traffic then we’re all for it, so fingers crossed.
