content_copy
Car parks ‘extinct’ in smart cities of the future?
A combination of shared data, battery power and self-driving technology could render conventional car park systems and structures pointless.
January 20, 2017
In preparation for the Scottish Renewables' first ever Low-Carbon Cities Conference (22nd February 2017, Edinburgh), Simon Tricker (CDO of UrbanTide) discussed the future of our vehicles and car parks in cities.
By 2030 self-driving electric vehicles are likely to be commonplace. Current figures show that cars are sitting idle for around 95% of the day, and this technology could put them to use for far more of the time.
Another aspect contributing to car parks becoming obsolete is that self-driving cars won’t need parking spaces in smart cities – they’re likely to be rented rather than owned and will just head off and carry out their next journey after dropping passengers off.
Our future vehicles are also likely to be electric, due to the pace at which electric vehicle technology is developing, so will produce zero emissions as they are driven.
Combining these future trends with an opening up of the data that will enable new services to link with waiting passengers, we’re likely to see a huge shift in how our cities look and how transport is managed. More room for people, cleaner air and more efficient journeys are just the start.
“Scottish local authorities are already thinking about what city streets will look like in a decade’s time - and the answers are pretty astounding.”
— Simon Tricker, UbanTide
Nothing shows the timeliness of this topic more than the fact that this discussion was picked up by other online and print media (we got especially excited about the printed newspapers)!
If you want to join the conversation then please come to the Scottish Renewables Low-Carbon Cities Conference on the 22nd February at the COSLA Conference Centre in Edinburgh. Speakers from Scotland’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Task Force and the Scottish Cities Alliance will discuss visions for low-carbon cities of the future, while Åsa Karlsson Björkmarker, Deputy Mayor of Växjö, Sweden, will speak about her experience leading ‘Europe’s greenest city’.
Also speaking at the event are James Alexander, Finance & Economic Development Initiative Director at C40 – a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change – and Professor Jill Anable, Chair in Transport and Energy at the University of Leeds.
“With the bulk of Scotland’s power now coming from renewable energy and a new Scottish Climate Change Bill in the offing, Scotland continues to lead the way in building a low-carbon economy. Scottish Renewables’ first ever Low-Carbon Cities Conference explores the many opportunities for Scotland’s cities to embrace the transition to a sustainable, clean, green economy; reducing energy costs and tackling fuel poverty, while attracting low-carbon investment and jobs, and building Scotland’s industries of the future.”
— Jenny Hogan, Director of Policy at Scottish Renewables.
Although cities across Scotland are already forging ahead with ground-breaking projects to decarbonise their city infrastructure and energy supplies, such as the 'Smart Infrastructure – Intelligent Street lighting' project or the EU funded RUGGEDISED lighthouse project that will demonstrate how to combine ICT, e-mobility and energy solutions to create sustainable urban spaces. There is, however, still a long way to go if Scotland is to meet its ambitious targets and achieve the goal of cutting carbon at the lowest cost. The conference will showcase successful initiatives, emerging ideas across the generation, storage, distribution and use of energy that will transform our urban areas into smart cities for the next generation.
Another interesting resource for decarbonising Scottish cities is the 'Low Carbon Resilient Cities: Investment Opportunities for ‘Better’ Growth' report prepared by Jacobs U.K. Limited.
For more details, see the Scottish Renewables’ website.
More
Unlocking Ireland's Data Potential: Navigating the Open Data Directive with UrbanTide
News
UrbanTide's Commitment to Security: Officially ISO 27001 Certified!
News
uZero was awarded the edie Net Zero Innovation of the Year: Software, Systems & Services Award
News
Tackling the growing fuel poverty crisis and supporting the Just Transition to net zero
News
Low Carbon Homes’ Home Upgrade Show: Innovations in Retrofit
News
Data Integration and Collaboration are critical for the future of Transportation: Insights from JCT Symposium
News
uMove to support Bedfordshire Council to achieve ambitious sustainability plans
News
Active travel, the current challenges and solutions
News
Using the power of data to build cities of tomorrow
News
uMove supports the Smart Manuals for Streets programme from DfT
News
Scotland's Cycling Framework Makes Infrastructure Greatest Priority
News
Reducing emissions and improving health with active travel
Cycling Scotland
GSENZH - targeting energy-efficiency campaigns to households most in need
Greater South East Net Zero Hub
SEStran - Facilitating active travel behavioural change with data
SEStran
Social connect - helping identify customers in or at risk of fuel poverty.
UK Power Networks
Open data promotes transparency, builds trust and empower citizens
Ireland Open Data Training
Identifying and unlocking new revenue from business rates with AI
North Lanarkshire
Tackling the growing
fuel poverty crisis with data and AI
UKRI
Understanding how we live and use our homes with real-time energy data
Smartline
Managing the impact of noise pollution on our cities
Noiseability
Accelerating the transformation of the UK’s energy systems
Energy Systems Catapult
Investing in sustainable transport infrastructure to become carbon neutral
Somerset County Council
Identifying ageing households at risk of cold and damp home
Sunderland City Council
Innovate UK funding to help our Planet Centred approach to retrofitting Europe’s leakiest homes
News
Open data is now a legal requirement in Ireland and the EU
News
New ‘uZero’ Artificial Intelligence software could help millions with their fuel bills
News
UrbanTide helps secure £48 million funding for Scottish Cities Alliance
News
UrbanTide leads £24 million program to make Glasgow a Future City
News
Building smart communities for OPEN Glasgow Engagement Programme
News
UrbanTide launches IoT data insights platform, uSmart
News
uZero announced as UKRI MEDA competition winner
News
Social Connect is a unique UK Power Networks (UKPN) innovation project
News
UrbanTide announces partnership with Energy Systems Catapult
News
UrbanTide marks four years of Open Data training in Ireland
News
Noisability: UrbanTide wins major bid as part of SynchroniCity program
News
UrbanTide joins prestigious Artificial Intelligence accelerator
News
UrbanTide recognised at ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards
News
ODI publishes case studies that show how open data can be used in service redesign
News
UrbanTide teams up with North Lanarkshire Council to make better services with data
News
UrbanTide, Snook and North Lanarkshire Council announced as finalists for the 2018 Digital Technology Awards
News
Innovative smart communities IoT project powered by USMART
News
The Power of Data Science in the Health and Care Sector
News
UrbanTide to help transform Ireland by unlocking the power of open data
News
Stay ahead of the curve by learning more about these new smart cities standards
News
#DataFest17 - 12 key lessons we learned about smart cities, communities and the future of data
News
Emerging ideas for a renewed (Y)Our Glasgow City Centre
News
Future Health Hack - building the future of healthcare one line of code at a time
News
Meet our API Data Explorer – aka your new best friend if you are working with big data
News
Car parks ‘extinct’ in smart cities of the future?
News
3 awesome USMART features - with more coming soon!
News
Data scientists and USMART: a match made in heaven
News
We are now Regional Supporters of Open Data Impact Map
News
Next generation open data platform looking for beta testers!
News
Glasgow city centre regeneration - how smart can Glasgow be?
News
Open data - is the open private sector the next frontier?
News
Open data everywhere! Review of open data maturity in Europe, UK and Scotland
News
Feedback from our year delivering open data training for Scottish Government
News
Announcing our new open data training programme
News
Glasgow City Centre District Regeneration Frameworks
News
Metadata and metadata standards- reflections from our Chief Operational Officer
News
All about our Smart Cities Maturity Self-Assessment Tool
News
Open data training for Scotland's public sector
News
Engage - invest – Exploit (EiE) or Enjoyable - interactive - Experience (EiE)
News
UrbanTide and India: 5 Lesson's Learned from Simon's Trip to the Subcontinent
News
Cisco and the Smart Cities Council: 4 Messages from America...
News
Edinburgh continues to iterate, and then iterate again
News
Talk to our team about how we can unlock data driven innovation for you and your organisation
See uSmart and our growing AI portfolio in action and find our how we can support your data and AI programmes