Dawn of autonomous vehicles: review and challenges ahead

This article reviews the state-of-the-art on autonomous vehicles as of 2016, including their impact at socio-economic, energy, safety, congestion, and land-use levels. This impact study focuses on issues that are common denominator and are bound to arise independently of regional factors, such as (but not restricted to) change to vehicle ownership patterns and driver behaviour, opportunities for energy and emissions savings, potential for accident reduction and lower insurance costs, and requalification of urban areas previously assigned to parking. The challenges that lie ahead for carmakers, law and policy makers are also explored, with an emphasis on how these challenges affect the urban infrastructure and issues they create for municipal planners and decision-makers. The article concludes with a summarising SWOT analysis that integrates and relates all these aspects.