The new year has brought with it big changes as I have now emerged from the familiar university bubble and begun my official foray into the working world. I’ve traded in late-night, caffeine-fuelled study groups for early morning (also caffeine-fuelled) brainstorming sessions, and it’s been an exciting transition.
The urban environment is an opportunity area for multiple actors; politicians, businesses and citizens, to make large-scale changes that dramatically reduce our impact on the environment. As a hotbed for new innovations, financial investment and governmental institutions, the city has the power to scale new technologies and influence our daily practices and infrastructure to ensure our cities (and the wider environment) continue to be a healthy and thriving place to live.
Driverless cars present huge opportunities for cities and the people living in them. They stand to change ownership models for cars, usage models through sharing rides, and the built environment through reducing and re-purposing our streets.
Drone technology is already here and, as with most disruptors, we have a choice of acting now to shape it to enable the city and citizen to develop positively, or be passive and risk the potentially negative outcomes.
The cityscape, which cars operate in today, is the result of countless historical decisions. These decisions, often taken in isolation and without the benefit of forecasting the effect of emerging technologies, were rarely truly strategic. Consequently cars, not people, have shaped our cities over the last century. We now have the opportunity to ensure that it is our cities that shape the place drones operate within.
DG Cities recently participated in the CUES Venture Programme focusing on Smart Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Social Impact in Cambridge. The event, organised by CUES (Cambridge University Engineering Society, www.cues.org.uk) focused on technology applications and initiatives that could improve the city we live in.
Exciting news - we’re currently looking for a new Project Officer to join our team! The short term requirement would be for someone to join us to work within research and community engagement to support the development of a simulation model for Connected Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) testing and input into research related to Smart Mobility Living Lab : London.
