Take a Look at this Preview of an Upcoming Book Review: “Driverless Cars, Urban Parking and Land”, reviewed by Dr. Mark Lee Levine

Driverless Cars, Urban Parking and Land, by Robert A. Simons, New York, Routledge, 2020.

Reviewed by: Dr. Mark Lee Levine, Professor, University of Denver

Driverless Cars, Urban Parking and Land, by Robert (Roby) A. Simons (aided in some chapters by co-authors), is on a topic that is near and dear to my heart.

The Work has four sections. The first covers driverless vehicles (DV) with respect to technology and related points. The second section looks at transitioning to DV. The third section examines parking and land use. Finally, the fourth section considers policies as to DV. With Dr. Libbi Levine Segev, I have been working for many years in this field. We have never discovered any one work that contains all of the impressive sources, charts, graphs, diagrams and other supporting materials that are so orderly presented in this text.

Included in the Work are exhibits on levels of automation in DV, studies in various cities on DV, research on the use of alternative types of transportation, market studies with DV, and types of projects impacted by the DV. Collected in one volume are references to most of the key, current data on DV. Some of this data is contained in tables that cover issues of costs for DV, safety concerns, changes in amount of parking employed for vehicles, the impact of the DV on employment, and so on.

Simons has created a wonderful source in collecting and organizing a huge amount of data, articles and commentaries on DV. It is not that he has added so much new to the DV field; rather, he has organized the field and helped our thinking of what data, sources, resources and materials are available to one working in the area of DV, using the term, DV, in the very broad sense. This work is a necessity for those who wish to have a more detailed examination of the DV and where the DV development is apparently heading at this time.

Pages: 388

The full book review will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Urban Affairs.

The reviewer may be reached via e-mail at MLevine@DU.EDU.