How autonomous vehicles could change how cities are designed
BT150 member Dr. Jonathan Reichental said the impact on autonomous vehicles on smart city design is underappreciated.
Reichental is CEO of Human Future, an advisory, investment and education firm. He has previously served as chief information officer at O'Reilly Media and City of Palo Alto. He has written a series of books on smart cities and has created online education content for LinkedIn Learning.
We covered a lot of ground--AI, Internet of things and city operating systems--in a wide-ranging discussion about generative AI and where it fits into cities. Here's a look at the takeaways.
GenAI questions abound. Reichental said generative AI has been the focus of conversation in the tech sector for nearly two years now, but there are plenty of organizations that are figuring out strategies. "A lot of my work is education and clients are asking how they should think about generative AI," he explained. "Sometimes that's the hardest question."
Those incoming questions highlight how it's still early in the generative AI game and organizations are pondering the risks, rewards and use cases. As these questions are happening many organizations have already adopted AI since their employees have brought it to work. "Employees are bringing their own AI to work," said Reichental.
Applying AI to solve problems. Reichental said organizations should start identifying a problem to solve and then finding the right solution. "I'm old school. Let's look at the problem first and figure out the right solution for it," he said. "Let's not start with the solution and AI before the problem you're trying to solve. These are valuable conversations and activities that I'm seeing right now."
Do-it-yourself approaches vs. buying AI capabilities. Reichental said the public sector is more focused on buying AI capabilities off the shelf. Every cloud SaaS vendor has AI capabilities and in the public sector it is normal to wait for those tools to be integrated. "In the public sector we use traffic management systems, permitting systems and legislative systems and vendors are enabling AI," said Reichental. "Some cities in the world are progressive and building their custom AI solutions, but that's more rare."
Reichental added that he was an advocate for cities moving into the cloud because they shouldn't be in the data center business. AI is similar. "You should focus on your core competencies and subscribe to technology," he said. "Public service is really a world of constraints. Too many projects and not enough time, money or talent and you have to operate within that. There are only a few big cities in the world that have the capacity to pull off a custom genAI project."
To Reichental, smart cities' core competencies are providing educational services, health, transportation, energy and public safety. Technology and AI can make delivery of those services faster with less bureaucracy. "There's a lot of momentum behind the digitization of government and AI is just really a big part of that," he said.
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Autonomous vehicles will transform cities. Reichental said that all of the hubbub about AI is overshadowing autonomous vehicles, which have the potential to transform how cities are designed. "Autonomous vehicles and drones can transform the landscape of cities. This is a really big deal," said Reichental. :"Cities can completely change how they are designed. Do we need a grid system? How about traffic lights or parking spaces and parking lots? Cities have been built for most of the 20th and 21st century to reflect the needs of cars we drive."
To Reichental, cities will transform from designs that accommodate car ownership to ones that have on-demand electric autonomous vehicles." Reichental said autonomous vehicles will likely have a faster impact on cities than most observers think today.
Some city design possibilities:
- Buildings can be planned for various uses. Perhaps a multi-story parking lot can be converted into housing.
- Instead of tearing down buildings, there can be planned conversions to other uses.
- Engineering of cities can change without the burden of accommodating car ownership and focus on green spaces, pedestrian areas and gardens. "It's already happening," said Reichental.
Internet of things vision realized. Reichental said the Internet of things will also have a big impact on cities since the sensors and systems are deployed. What has been missing is the AI for dynamic traffic =and energy management. "As we deploy these lower cost sensors in the urban landscape cities will be able to respond better. AI will be a part of that," he said.
Silos and that elusive city operating system. I asked Reichental whether we'd ever see a city platform that integrates everything a city does. The short answer is no. He said:
"There is a graveyard of failed city operating systems and platforms. What everyone has to recognize is that the private sector is centered and focused on delivering to the marketplace. A city is going to have 20 different departments and every one of these is a completely different business and doing its work in a different way. How similar is the fire service in the city to planning or permitting or legal? There are data standards and best practices, but I think the silos are going to continue. Maybe we'll be surprised."
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