Sebnem Tugce Pala Member of the Public Policy Team at AmpUp and Researcher at the Transportation Sustainability Research Centre, at UC Berkely
Can autonomous vehicles be the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic? First published on DiploFoundation Blog, 9 June Transportation as the growth engine of the economy has been one of the industries that has been hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has substantially impacted how we work, how we travel, and how we use technology. It has put an incredible strain on global supply chains, from medical supplies to household goods, as spikes in demand stress-test logistics infrastructures. We are now at a crossroads which represents a good opportunity to rethink our modes of transportation. Autonomous vehicles are already used to alleviate the strain on existing delivery services while addressing the demand and reducing the risk of exposure for citizens. Sustainability in transportation starts with autonomous vehicles; this pandemic has been a game changer for autonomous vehicles in every aspect and has highlighted the significance of the deployment of autonomous vehicles further. For instance, the Mayo Clinic has teamed up with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and self-driving start-ups Beep and Navya for a project in Florida. In this project, autonomous shuttles began servicing a route between a drive-through testing site and a processing laboratory at the Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus on 30 March. Basically, autonomous vehicles are moving COVID-19 tests from a drive-through testing check-point, to a lab for analysis, all without a human on board. Moreover, Starship Technologies has deployed a fleet of 20 autonomous on-demand vehicles in Fairfax, Virginia, and these vehicles will deliver food and groceries from a handful of restaurants and markets in and around the city’s downtown area. These vehicles have separate insulated areas for hot and cold items and are equipped with cameras, sensors, and other technology to help them glean traffic patterns, curb-cuts, and other information about the urban environment they find themselves in. In California, the Department of Motor vehicles recently authorised Nuro R2 to test driverless delivery vehicles in some parts of the Bay Area. Nuro’s was originally designed for outdoor package delivery.
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