9
O P I N I O N
Farmer’s garage
Autonomous vehicles are on the way, and when they arrive, parking decks will increasingly become obsolete, and will need to be repurposed.
C ars that can drive themselves, using radar, LIDAR, and other imaging devices will appear within the next five years. The technology will allow them to follow a few feet behind one another, utilizing our roadways more efficiently and safely (93 percent of auto accidents are due to driver error). People will no longer need or want to own their own vehicles, nor pay taxes, maintenance, insurance, or parking for them. One wonders what will happen to the thousands of parking garages, the majority of which will become redundant as a result.
Edward Friedrichs
Most of those structures were not designed with a secondary use in mind. Most were limited to code minimums, utilizing precast concrete beams with a seven-foot clearance, very deep floor- plates, open perimeters, and little, if any, heating, ventilating, or air-conditioning. In other words, they are not easily convertible to alternative uses such as offices, apartments, or even data centers. To make matters worse, many were built with sloped floors to allow a continuous search pattern while trying to find a parking place. So what are we going to do with these very solidly
constructed structures when many of the cars parked in them today are replaced by a vehicle that you summon on your cell phone? The autonomous vehicle knows where you are, picks you up, takes you to your destination, drops you off, and goes on to pick up other passengers. Since it is projected that autonomous vehicles will be electrically powered and able to park themselves at an efficient charging station, what will happen to all those gas stations on prime corners in our cities?
See EDWARD FRIEDRICHS, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER February 26, 2018, ISSUE 1237
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