A city known for its opposition to transit might be on the cutting edge of first-last mile technology innovation.
According to an article by Adele Peters, the city of Beverly Hills, California is "planning to introduce a new network of self-driving electric shuttles."
The idea was sparked by a upcoming challenge: In about a decade, Beverly Hills will be getting two new stops on a local subway line that connects to downtown L.A. The city knew that there wouldn't be an easy way for many people to reach the subway; unlike some other subway stops, neither will have a park-and-ride lot for commuters to leave cars.
Similar concerns about parking around transit stations were raised this week around the new Expo Line extension to Santa Monica.
Peters notes the other examples of cities beginning to experiment with "on-demand public transit," though the self-driving variety is still a few years, at least, off. The city of Sion, in Switzerland, is experimenting with driverless shuttles, although they will run on a standard route of stops, rather than sending shuttles to a particular person on demand.
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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research