THE SHUTTLE SOLUTION
HOMEOWNERS HAVE MUCH TO GAIN FROM SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES, COMING TO TORONTO THIS SPRING
As it stands, there’s nothing remarkable about the Rouge Hill GO station. But that is set to change. Sometime this spring, an eight- passenger self- driving shuttle is slated to start connecting residents of the nearby West Rouge neighbourhood with Scarborough’s easternmost transit hub.
Jointly funded by the City of Toronto, Toronto Transit Commission and Metrolinx, the temporary trial service isn’t expected to have much of an impact on local traffic congestion or parking availability in the sprawling lots surrounding the GO Train platform. Rather, as
City spokesperson Eric Holmes explains, its aim is to demonstrate the potential for autonomous electric shuttles to achieve these feats while reducing carbon emissions and “meeting an existing unmet need in public transit” on residential streets that aren’t served by conventional buses.
Of the parties that stand to gain from the rise of autonomous vehicles ( AVS), homeowners could be the biggest beneficiaries, says Josipa Petrunic, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC).
“Shared electric AVS will boost property values by improving mobility, and save individual residents thousands of dollars a year by reducing the need for vehicle ownership.”
No wonder real- estate developers and property hunters are taking note — and in some cases, taking action.
For suburbanites like those living in West Rouge, conventional public transit is rarely within easy walking distance of their front doors. By bridging this so- called “last- mile gap,” Petrunic explains, the nimble and relatively inexpensive service, which will be freeof- charge for the Scarborough project, can reduce transit- based commute times and discomfort to the point that people will be more inclined to leave their cars at home or abandon them entirely.
“We know that when people get in their cars there’s a real motivation to skip the park and ride and just drive the whole way to work,” she says, adding that this tendency undermines both emissions-reduction efforts and transit expansion and improvement. “Bridging the last- mile gap helps to create a snowball effect: More people use transit, it receives more funding, the experience improves, more people use transit, it receives more funding, and so on.”
In denser urban areas, the technology could bridge the cost- versus- convenience gap between public transit, taxis and ride- hailing services, and vehicle ownership. “These shuttles emit no pollution and are very quiet, so they could drive right into a condo building,” Petrunic says. “It’s easy to envision on- demand shuttles pretty much destroying the need for a car downtown.”
While that vision will no longer be realized by Google LLC’S now- defunct Sidewalk Toronto development project, which proposed optimizing roads for AVS in a 4.9- hectare waterfront site, it remains a key selling point of the new EVE Park condo project on the western outskirts of London, Ont. Described by local developer s2e Technologies as “a ground- breaking community concept that pushes the envelope on net-zero-energy living,” the 80- household enclave has been designed around AVS. Developed with $2.4 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Green Infrastructure Program, an automated valet service will dispatch shared AVS from an onsite rotary parking tower to residents’ doorsteps when prompted via a smartphone app. The service is designed for driverless pickup and dropoff within the condo community, but not for autonomous use on the wider road network, where human drivers are still required to take the wheel. Now on sale after receiving municipal zoning approval in early 2020, EVE Park is scheduled to receive its first residents by late 2021.
“It’s about living in a park, not a parking lot,” says s2e managing director Ashley Hammerbacher. “Removing car garages from the home allows for more pedestrian-friendly walkways and more outdoor space for uses such as parks, playgrounds, walking trails and gardens.”
It’s worth noting that most autonomous shuttles in use today are monitored by on- board human attendants. “It’s like going back in time to having an elevator attendant push the buttons for you,” says Nicholas Cole, senior vice-president of sales for Local Motors, the Arizona-based company providing an Olli 2.0 shuttle for the Scarborough pilot. “We’re at the stage where it’s about building comfort with the communities that we’re going to serve with these vehicles.”
While Cole says 2021 will be a tipping point for wider deployment of autonomous shuttles, other tech- watchers are dubious that the age of the AV is upon us. A J. D. Power survey of 500 auto and tech industry experts suggests that fully autonomous vehicles won’t be available to private buyers until 2030 at the earliest.
Still, the transformative potential of AVS is being noticed by other condo developers, some that dwarf s2e in size and influence. “Parking is a negative for us,” says Jared Menkes, executive vice- president of High- Rise Residential at Menkes Developments. “We find that we don’t sell enough of it, and people don’t want as much of it as they used to. What people want are parks, paths, picnic areas and space to enjoy the outdoors, and AVS will allow us to offer more of that by reducing parking needs and road infrastructure.” No AV rollouts for Menkes properties have yet been announced.
At the same time, he adds, many condo buyers are balking at the cost of owning parking spots, which average around $ 50,000 in downtown Toronto. “We’ve been seeing it for years now: No one can afford a car and a parking spot. They want to spend their money on other things, like the restaurants, boutiques, galleries and clubs that prompted them to live downtown in the first place.”