7 Ideas To Pave The Way For Autonomous Vehicles

As more autonomous vehicles have taken to the roads, transportation expert Ben Pierce has been noticing ways the roads should prepare for them. "They can drive themselves, but boy we can really help them," said Pierce, the transportation technology lead for the engineering and architecture firm HDR. In Chicago last week, Pierce suggested some big changes to infrastructure and some small changes to policies and procedures that can improve the performance of driverless cars and avoid some hazards. "One of the things I've noticed here recently as more and more autonomous vehicles have started to arrive, is there's a bunch of unforeseen consequences, and that we as highway designers need to start paying attention to those unforeseen consequences," Pierce told a packed room Thursday at Chicago's Metropolitan Planning Council. "There's a lot of little things we can do to be ready, and if we get ready we can see these huge benefits and gains, and it's phenomenal."