The Intersection between Autonomous Vehicle and Built Environment

Abstract

Autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles are likely to replace the conventional vehicle in the near future throughout the world, however, the response and adaptation to this new change will vary in different countries inaccordance with their cultural, economic and infrastructural provisions. How would Bangladesh as a low-income and dense country but having rapidly expanding economies respond in the transition from conventional vehicles to autonomous and SAV? Can its adaptation be traced and guided in a way that will address the community’s needs? How would the architectural and infrastructural implementation look like in a developing country that would differ from the developed world? Even though Bangladesh is a small developing country and it has been advancing with its own pace and path, where will Bangladesh differ from other developing countries? Like many other developing countries, in Bangladesh, the evolution of public vehicles forwarded according to the community’s need in a vernacular way without proper patronage and business structure. An urban community’s needs for transportation and commuting influences the architecture. Transportation systems alter urban fabric; it will do so in the future. Tesla, BMW, Audi and other giant automobile companies are working on different prototypes of autonomous cars and that they have launched. However, the US and Europe market and policies are skeptical to fully replace the conventional cars. On the other hand, China, as an upper-middle income country and 2nd in the population density is more likely to be the first to fully execute autonomous vehicles. From that point of view, the new cities in Bangladesh have the potential of implementing AV in public transportation and auxiliary infrastructure. Hence, the architectural implementation is most likely to vary from macro level to micro level, business district to mixed-use and residential and so on. By juxtaposing these scenarios and analyzing the factors to respond, this essay investigates the most probable infrastructural, architectural and transportation-based adaptation would take place in developing and populated countries like Bangladesh.