Steering Connected and Automated Mobility in the Right Direction

The 10th Annual UCLA Downtown Los Angeles Forum on Transportation, Land Use and the Environment

Thursday, April 13
8:00 am – 3:00 pm
California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities

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This 10th Annual Downtown Los Angeles Forum will focus on practical limitations and concerns of connected and automated vehicle technology. How can policymakers and stakeholders prepare the network and our current transportation system for this next technology wave? New technologies have and will continue to shape the future of transportation. Communities are seeing technology enabled mobility on the ground with on-demand ridesharing and bikesharing. People also understand how technology enhancements can improve the system for policy makers and travelers with real-time transit arrival information, dynamically-priced parking spaces and managed highway lanes. These changes did bring real improvements to people, but are these improvements accessible to everyone? Or may they further exacerbate current inequities in our transportation system?

The conference speakers will tackle important questions including what will the likely decades-long period look like when conventional, connected and automated vehicles all need to interact? What investments should cities be prepared to make to maximize the benefits of vehicle connectivity? How can and should public policy makers interact with largely private industry to steer the transformation in the direction of current policy while ensuring the benefits are fairly distributed?

We need to prepare now for this next revolution no matter when connected and automated vehicles reach widespread adoption. These technologies hold promise to positively contribute to concerns about traveler safety, greenhouse gas emissions and continued increasing demands on the transportation system. But, these promises are not likely to be kept if policymakers cannot proactively address how to steer their adoption in the right direction. The speakers represent a mix of practice and research and the audience can expect a thought-provoking event.

8:00 – 8:30      Breakfast

8:30 – 9:00      Setting the stage: How Connected and Automated Technologies May Shape our Future

• Lauren Issac, 2015 William Barclay Parsons Fellow, EasyMile

9:00 – 10:30    Practical Limitations and Concerns with Connected and Automated Technology
Practical concerns and questions abound with the onslaught of this new technology. When will we know if this technology is safe? Who is liable if the technology fails? How will the technology be designed to prevent cyber security attacks? What may be the behavioral response from travelers? This panel presents three speakers discussing how the roll-out of this technology may play out among these real and practical concerns.

Moderator: Madeline Brozen, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

• “Vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions” Chris Ganson, California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
• “Getting the policies in place to support the triple revolution” Susie Pike, UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies
• “Tort law and vehicle automation” Maya Buenaventura, RAND Corporation

10:45 – 12:15   Preparing our expectations for travelers and the network
Previous technological improvements required little investment from the public sector to operate. This transformation is different as it will require upgrades to traffic signals and other roadside equipment. What are the costs associated with these upgrades? Can current projects be delivered differently now to achieve economies of scale with future improvements? How should long-range transportation plans and other policy documents prepare for these changes?

Moderator: Juan Matute, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

• “Assessing network and policy readiness” Veronica Siranosian, AECOM
• “Planning now for future change” Eric Shaw, Washington D.C Office of Planning
• “Costing out connected infrastructure” Sam Morrissey, Iteris

12:15 – 1:30      Lunch

1:30 – 2:45        What is a city to do? Discussing future on-the-ground direction
We will close the event with a discussion with leaders in the field to discuss how connected and automated vehicle technology can be interwoven into the future vision for Los Angeles and cities across the United States.

Moderated by: Jessica Meaney, Investing in Place 

• Ashley Hand, CityFi
• Corinne Kisner, NACTO
• Lauren Issac, EasyMile

2:45                    Closing remarks

• Brian Taylor, UCLA

3:00 – 4:00         Networking reception

Location

California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities
1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012