CORP – Competence Center of Urban and Regional Planning
Abstract
Technologies around Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) have improved enormously in the last decade.
Autonomous vehicles are increasingly being tested on roads around the world. While the commercialisation
of AVs seems imminent and researchers have explored various scenarios on the impact of driverless cars,
trucks and buses on urban planning, the research around how AVs interface with land use and buildings
remains scarce. This means that AVs may not be ready for full end-to-end transportation of passengers in
high-density cities where drop off points are built within the buildings. This research study aims to fill the
gap by examining the issues around the AV interface with land use and buildings, before these vehicles can
become a viable option for commuters. Further research is required to investigate how these vehicles can
navigate away from the roads into buildings, navigate within buildings, and then navigate out of buildings
back onto the roads. This paper reviews current literature on the subject of autonomous vehicles and how
they interact with and impact on the built environment. The findings identified a knowledge gap on how
autonomous vehicles interface with buildings. The scant research in this area could slow the adoption of
autonomous vehicles in a city like Singapore. Thus, this paper proposes a novel shared design framework
plan for stakeholders, such as commuters, car manufacturers, building owners and design consultants, etc., to
adopt so that building owners may enhance their assets for smoother access by autonomous vehicles. The
inputs from a range of stakeholders could steer the formulation of guidelines for upgrading existing buildings
to be AV-friendly and introduce relevant design considerations for new buildings to be AV-read