Can New York take advantage of driverless cars? Design competition launched to find answer
Design competition organiser Blank Space has partnered with government authorities in New York to seek a feasible long-term strategy for the city’s response to driverless cars.
“Entrepreneurs, innovators, designers, engineers, architects and futurists” are invited to enter The Driverless Future Challenge and pitch concrete design solutions for the cities of the future, which “will be populated with robotic cars chauffeuring their dozing or web-surfing occupants around town.”
“The challenge seeks proposals that actively shape. It’s not about the cars themselves, but everything else: from parking solutions, to new uses of roadways, intersections, and sidewalks,” said Blank Space in a statement.
“What tools can be built to increase the accessibility and use of autonomous mass transit? How can shipping and logistics be improved? How can new business models and software tools be leveraged to shape our surroundings?”
“Our goal is nothing short of envisioning the impact of autonomous transportation in one of the most complex cities in the world. After all, if autonomous cars can make it here, they can make it anywhere.”
Companies such as Tesla and Google have been developing driverless cars, which detect their surroundings using radar, laser light, GPS, odometry and computer vision. While the vehicles have not yet been legalised for public roads, Blank Space predicted we’ll see them in cities and on highways within the next two decades. When this happens, it said they will “generate an enormous impact on society, the environment, business, and the fabric of urban mobility, both locally and globally.”
The technology also promises strong leisure implications, such as the possibility that a fleet of cars or commuter pods could travel the city, collecting people and taking them on city tours, or to visit city museums, sports stadiums or retail zones.
By May, competitors must submit a three minute pitch video that encapsulates their proposal. Four finalists will be selected to present their visions to the city’s top government officials and leading technologists in June 2017, before a final winner is announced.
Blank Space is working with new York’s Department of Transportation, the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and the Economic Development Corporation to help the winning team build their ideas into working products and services.
Blank Space New York driverless cars cities urban space infrastructure design architectureUAE’s first Dior Spa debuts in Dubai at Dorchester Collection’s newest hotel, The Lana
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
From climate change to resource scarcity, Exploration Architecture uses biomimicry to address some of the world’s major challenges. Its founder tells us how