Communities and private investors are building new structured parking (i.e., garages) at great cost. These investments have effective usable lives of 50 to 70 years and use valuable urban space. At the same time, vehicle automation is accelerating with companies like Waymo, Tesla, Zoox and others deploying automated ride-share services in cities across North America, leading to a predictable future decline in the need for parking capacity. Though difficult to pinpoint the timeline exactly, within the next 20 years, the need for public parking will change (likely falling over a cliff). This change will result in many current parking projects and facilities being underutilized. As urban planning practitioners, we can do better to prepare for this demand cliff? How do we maintain flexibility now so that the investments being made might be reusable in the future? How do we reduce the impact of necessary parking now, even as we prepare for an automated future. Are there proven technologies that offer options to create smart transition, that make better use of our limited urban spaces, encourage better urban form and therefor better human-scale spaces that promote TDM, walking, as well as continued economic activity?

This presentation will explore the parking dilemma and present concepts to support high-density parking, including automation of parking operations. Experts from around the country will discuss new technologies, development options, and governmental standards relating to the design, construction, and operation of automated parking.