A wild ride: Transportation future could mean robotic cars, parking-ramp apartments, security tunnels at airports

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Greater Des Moines could see a day when far more people bike to work, airport security is a simple walk through a tunnel, parking is converted to stores or apartments, and big data helps us make quick transportation choices that save money.

Those were some of the themes from the Business Record’s Power Breakfast on transportation issues and related disruptive technologies. We gathered a panel of experts to tell us what we’ll see in coming decades: Paul Trombino, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation; Elizabeth Presutti, CEO of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority; Larry James, a commercial real estate attorney and governance chair, Urban Land Institute Iowa; Todd Ashby, executive director, Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization; and Kerty Levy, president, OTGW LLC, and member of the  Des Moines Airport Authority Board.

In an hour-plus, they told an audience of 150 that we should expect huge changes in transportation, many of which will save us time and money. Autonomous vehicles were a major topic, as were changes at airports, improved mass transit for people of all income levels, and the real prospect of having more land to develop when people decide to own fewer cars — or none at all. Many of us will simply hire a ride when we need one, or ride a bike, walk or take mass transit. 

Here are some key points we heard.


Expect a boom of driverless vehicles

Trombino: “Everyone talks about autonomous vehicles. This a transportation event horizon. We are at a single point of no return where there is a significant change happening, where no one will be left behind. The reason I say that is the change is information and data. People will have information and data at their fingertips to make decisions. People make transportation decisions every day, and the more we get data into their hands, the more they will make good decisions based on safety, mobility and economics. We will have a fusion of choices that eventually reduces the cost for the consumer.”


The end of personal cars?

Presutti: “I believe one of the most significant changes in transportation is probably going to be the shift away from owning a personal car. It’s getting more expensive to own personal cars. And when you think about it, 95 percent of the time, your car is parked. When you think about the addition of automated vehicles, the increasing popularity of Uber and Lyft, car-sharing opportunities, bike-sharing opportunities as well as public transit, people have more options than they have ever had before. There really is less reason to own multiple cars in a household, or even a car. We really need to think about the transportation priorities that we have as we look to the future. Eric Crowell (president and CEO of UnityPoint Health — Des Moines and transit task force leader) shared a thought with me. What if Kodak had been in the business of images instead of steadfastly in the business of film? 

“DART has a choice as we look to our future. Do we stay focused just on buses, or do we start to think about public mobility?”


What do we do with all this parking?

James said the nation has as many as 1 billion parking spaces. Because there is likely going to be a shift to fewer personal vehicles, he’d like to see cities abandon laws that require a minimum number of parking spaces in each development. And he thinks cities should make sure new parking garages are built in such a way that they can be converted to housing or offices later.


Great ideas we can steal

Levy: “In Amsterdam and the Netherlands, you already have the opportunity to take your checked luggage and you walk up to a capsule, you put your luggage on the belt in there, it weighs it, you flash your boarding pass, you get your tag, you tag your luggage, and off it goes. Really, you don’t interact with anyone until you get to security. That’s been in practice now for about five years.

“In Dusseldorf, Germany, there is a robotic car valet system. It actually looks like a very sleek forklift. When you park your car at the arrivals, you indicate on a little screen that there is no one in the car and you leave. And along comes this machine and picks up your car and places it somewhere until you get back.

“In Los Angeles, there are two 17-year-olds who have figured out that you can arrive at their office and drop off your car there. They give you a ride to the airport and they rent your car while you are gone. Whether or not it gets rented, you get a free car wash, a vacuum and free parking.”

“In Japan, they are testing customer service robots in the arrivals terminal and the departures terminal. It’s interactive. They speak multiple languages. 

“There is a prototype out for a five-second, 21-foot security tunnel. Instead of TSA, you would walk up to a choice of tunnels. If you are prescreened, you would walk up to the tunnel that just checks three things — liquid, metals and a light X-ray of your bag. On the other side, if you aren’t prescreened, you check for explosive material and you check shoes. You don’t actually interact with someone; you just walk slowly through a tunnel. 

“In Switzerland, they are working on a system of motorized airplane wings that would pick up three fuselages. They could be owned by different companies. One might be cargo. One might be luxury living. One might be economy. All three of those clip into this set of wings that takes you to your location.”

James said cities may move away from parking minimums in new developments and prepare to use parking structures for offices or apartments. 

“There is an estimated 1 billion parking spaces in this country. If we actually have autonomous vehicle adoption, think how much square footage would be available. Think about Jordan Creek Town Center and how much more retail space there would be if even half the parking spaces weren’t needed anymore.”

“Less than 1 percent of people ride their bikes to work in downtown Des Moines. The crazy guy with the parka and the big fat tires riding down Ingersoll in the winter. What Minneapolis has done is install physically protected bike lanes. They use a curb, or cars, to separate the bike lanes from traffic, unlike Ingersoll, where bike lane is right next to traffic. They have increased the share (of people biking to work) to 5 or 6 percent. Not everyone in the room is going to ride a bike to work, but we have an amazing trail network here that we can build upon that will give us a real economic advantage.”

Changing destinations 

James: “By 2030, we are going to have a lot of autonomous vehicles on the road. What impact is that going to have on land use? What kind of places are we arriving to? We can get there fast, but the places we arrive to are going to change dramatically. Part of that is this idea that we can develop more densely in certain areas, like downtowns.” 

Data to increase choices, lower costs

Trombino said the move to big data will make it easier for consumers to find better and cheaper choices. “The more we get data in the hands of consumers, they can make good choices related to safety, mobility and economics. I see autonomous vehicles and all the other things as really a fusion of information that enables people to make a really good choice that ultimately lowers transportation costs for an individual person but also as a capital cost. 

“That is what is going to happen in the future. Just as Uber has transformed vehicles where you can use it right off your phone — it’s a single platform — imagine that across every mode moving any person or product.”

Levy said a key will be the fact that the data will be immediately updated. “It’s not just data. It needs to be up-to-the-minute data so I can make my decision. The expectation is already there in the big cities.

“I was traveling in Europe last summer, and I remember I was in downtown Berlin and trying to get to the suburbs and I opened up my Google maps and I had the tram and where it was going, the train and the bus, and how long it would take to walk. I could also pull up a cab if I wanted. That was all available on my app, and it accounted for traffic times, it accounted for congestion.”

Autonomous vehicles as social equity

“There are many people who cannot afford a vehicle,” Ashby said. Autonomous vehicles could connect people in low-income areas to jobs. “These technologies bring social equity to the table.”


Key points:

  • The U.S. has an estimated 1 billion parking spaces. Many of those may become available for redevelopment as Americans stop buying as many cars. Instead, they could order a ride on a driverless vehicle. 
  • Big data will give us up-to-the-minute information on traffic, weather, congestion and travel options that will save us time and money.
  • More people could bike to work if the lanes were protected with concrete barriers, or tucked on the curb side of a line of parked cars.
  • DART could offer mobility, not just buses. That could mean buying a pass that could get you a rental car or bike, or a bus ride, depending on what you want.