GHOST ROAD

A deep dive into “the driverless revolution to come.”

Townsend, president of urban forecasting initiative Star City Group, focuses on the seamless integration of automated vehicles (AV) into a society that he feels is ready for them. However, he also evenhandedly addresses the pitfalls. The text features an erudite analysis of the AV industry’s social and financial benefits and the finer points where the industry has already fallen short of expectations, and the author engagingly explores the facts behind the hype and weighs opinions from both sides of the spectrum. Townsend splits the narrative into three relevant “stories,” examining the specialization, the materialization, and the financialization of the driverless revolution, touting its benefits and debunking common myths about its future. In the first section, the author explores the transformative advancements in AV history and the “species” of innovations, and he enthusiastically promotes the eventualities of the “taxibot takeover” and the “push-button supercommute.” One of the areas to be affected most will be taxis. “Most market analysts agree,” writes the author, “that all taxis in the industrialized nations will be automated by 2030.” Then Townsend moves on to scrutinizes the steep demand of deliverables facing the e-commerce industry and the ways automation and “robofreight” could simplify these processes. Finally, Townsend warns of a potential regulatory crisis as corporations begin jockeying for power when lucrative autonomous markets proliferate. This convincing and balanced report also contains six “big mobility” codes of conduct, which will allow readers to apply specialized rules to personally maximize the autonomous experience. A natural follow-up to Townsend’s Smart Cities (2013), this well-researched, smoothly written book will appeal most to urban planners and those in the AV and related industries. Still, general readers will appreciate the author’s optimistic yet cautionary assessment of a technology that remains as elusive and unpredictable as it is awe-inspiring.

An astute and cautiously encouraging overview of the driverless technology revolution.