Self-driving cars could make urban traffic jams worse

MOTORING NEWS - A report released by the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group used simulations to examine how traffic flow would change around the city of Boston as more robotic cars hit the roads.

They found that self-driving cars could lead to a 5,5% increase in traffic in the city's downtown. While there will be fewer cars on the road, congestion will likely increase because commuters will choose these new vehicles over public transport.

The silver lining, according to the study, is that suburbs surrounding cities would see a significant decrease in traffic. The number of parking spaces needed in cities would also fall by about half.

This means that cities could be transformed by shared autonomous vehicles. Urban areas could prevent increasing gridlock by encouraging sharing of self-driving vehicles and continued use of mass transport.

To do this, the report recommends lowering prices for autonomous car pools, converting parking lots into pick-up and drop-off zones and creating self-driving only lanes.