The technology behind a parking deck slated to be built near downtown Raleigh could someday open the door for driverless vehicles and taxis in the Triangle, as autonomous vehicles prepare to hit city streets in Charlotte.
A short walk south of downtown Raleigh sits an empty field at 130 Kindley Street, adjacent to the recently constructed Mira Apartments. There, the city has approved the permitting for a 228-space parking deck that will add to the greater Gateway Corridor project, a section of land poised for redevelopment near the Martin Marietta Center and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
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What makes the garage different, though, is its autonomous technology that doesn't require operators to park or retrieve vehicles. The garage runs on automatic, "robotic" technology using industrial automation company Siemens. Drivers enter their cars into a loading bay, then onto a pallet, and operate a kiosk where the the garage system parks the car for the driver by itself.
The system works for all cars, including ones without a driver.
Robbie Ferris, one of the developers behind the project at SfL+a Architects, touted the benefits of the garage's environmental and sustainability impacts.
"Every space in the 228-space facility will be capable of providing EV charging, creating a significant concentration of charging capacity in the city’s urban core. This directly supports the City’s Community Climate Action Plan, which identifies transportation as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and calls for expanded EV infrastructure," Ferris says.
Funding for the garage incorporated C-PACE financing, which according to the EDPNC, allows property owners to finance eligible energy, water, and resiliency improvements
Ferris also acknowledged the technology for the garage is "adaptable to future autonomous vehicle technologies."
"We've had talks on the perimeter"
AUTOParkit, the technology company implementing the mechanical system for the garage, has projects in other areas of the United States. The company's CEO, Christopher Alan, spoke with WRAL about the project, saying one goal from the onset was for the garage to be a technology forward endeavor.
"[We] had a vision for this structure to be everything technology, to facilitate the new technologies that were out there. When we started design, we had discussions about autonomous building integrations and autonomous car integrations. That’s been a goal of his [Ferris] since the start of design on the project," Allan said.
Allan added that in the last five years, the company has upscaled its technology to support autonomous driving vehicles.
WRAL asked: "Does [AUTOParkit] have projects in the United States that currently house autonomous driving?"
"We have projects in the United States that are capable of housing autonomous cars, however we do not have a contract yet with any of the autonomous vehicle companies to house their cars," he said.
"But we would like to. We've had talks on the perimeter, and hopefully those will move forward, but multiple facilities that are capable."
Driverless vehicles are coming to North Carolina, but not in Raleigh
Waymo, the autonomous car company that's become almost synonymous with the driverless car initiative, is currently testing and mapping city streets in Charlotte.
The company, started more than a decade ago tracing origins to the Google Self-Driving Car Project, is currently in almost a dozen American cities and planning to launch in roughly 20 more. Some cities include: Nashville, Seattle, Denver as well as major cities such as Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago and more.
"This announcement reflects our tireless dedication for expanded mobility, and we believe Charlotte is an excellent choice for Waymo’s next destination," Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said in a Waymo press release this February.
If you build it, will they come?
With Waymo's arrival to Charlotte, WRAL reached out to the company, asking if there are plans that include Raleigh on its list of next cities for expansion.
A spokesperson for the company said it "don't have any plans to share about Raleigh at this time."
WRAL asked a second time, ahead of this story's initial publication.
The spokesperson's second response reiterated there was "nothing to share."
Alan, though, acknowledged that the infrastructure would need to be in place first to begin with. He noted while the company has had "perimeter" conversations with autonomous driving companies, they are looking for their first contract of that kind.
WRAL asked: "Is this a 'Field of Dreams' situation? Where the timeline goes, 'If you build it, they will come?'"
"I think that analogy is 100% accurate," Alan said.
"It’s funny we do work for Original Equipment Manufacturers that manufacture cars. It’s amazing how these large corporations have these ideas and put money behind something without understanding the domino effect. They’re putting a bunch of these cars out there, and they're like 'The cars drive themselves so they’ll park themselves.' Well if they can park themselves where are they going to park,'" Alan said.
Balance between progress and public safety
Raleigh shares commonalities among the cities that currently have or are planning on launching Waymo operations: growing metro areas with young professionals and tech investment.
In Austin Texas, Waymo is fully operational. It's also the city that hosted the first fully autonomous rider-only trip in a Waymo (then still a Google project) vehicle, while transporting a blind passenger.
Elected leaders there say while they support the technological progress it's brought to the city, there are lingering public safety concerns they would like to see addressed.
“We’re not trying to stop anyone from advancing technology but there have been some real safety issues that have not been addressed in the last year. Not able to deal with public safety officers," Paige Ellis says, a city council member in Austin.
The National Traffic Safety Board has launched an investigation into Waymo vehicles not stopping properly for school buses in the city. More recently, a driverless vehicle was captured on video blocking traffic during a mass shooting incident near the city's center.
Ellis is one of several city council members who signed onto a joint letter to Waymo, requesting a joint meeting with the company to discuss the incident and "ensure stronger coordination between Waymo's operations and Austin's public safety agencies."
WRAL asked Ellis: Would you say this [driverless vehicles] has been a net benefit for the City of Austin?
“I think there are huge benefits to being able to develop technology to solve problems. I’ve seen autonomous vehicles be helpful for folks going downtown, people leaving a bar and they don’t want to take their car home. That’s a responsible decision. There are many cases where it is helping people get safely home. But if they’re stopping an emergency response reaction from public safety, that’s a deal breaker for me.”
Waymo cites that its operations reduce serious injuries by 92% and air bag deployments by 83%.