Ever been to Vegas? Ever had to wait an hour at the airport for a taxi into town? Ever been left waiting for your Lyft driver to arrive at the hotel as he struggles to find the right entrance? Millions of visitors experience these hassles every year. Whether they are in town for the casinos or the conventions, such frustrations could colour their overall perception of the city.
Tourism is too lucrative a business to mess up, and the city is investing heavily in addressing its various transportation challenges. These include much more than simply congestion. The number of pedestrian fatalities reached an all time high last year. The roads tend to be long and straight, the type of road where you want to just put the pedal down and power ahead. The trouble is, there are crosswalks along the way, occasionally with pedestrians on them, and the drivers don’t always stop in time.
Before the conferences, though, there were the casinos, where the atmosphere of risk attracted visitors. That sense of speculation and daring has carried over into the city’s own approach to mobility
The issue runs deeper than asphalt, and adding more lanes or new roads won’t fix the mobility problems here. Las Vegas was one of the 78 applicants in the US government’s Smart City Challenge back in 2016. While it didn’t win, the competition effectively kick-started local efforts to address the city’s transportation needs and prepare it for future mobility. Much of this centres around connected vehicle technology, which can help not only with vehicle safety but also optimise traffic flows and reduce emissions.
City leaders have proven enthusiastic backers of this approach. Nevada became the first US state to authorise autonomous vehicle (AV) testing seven years ago, and its business-friendly policies have attracted numerous pilots since then. It even has a special Innovation District designed to showcase some of the latest advances.
With an established and growing connected infrastructure, and policies aimed at encouraging testing and development, the city has emerged as a hot bed of mobility innovation. At the moment, there’s an all-electric self-driving shuttle giving residents and visitors free rides around the centre. Lyft is deploying a small fleet of AVs, both for ride-share customers as well as paratransit users. Like many new transportation innovations, the Lyft AVs made their debut at CES.
Las Vegas was one of the 78 applicants in the US government’s Smart City Challenge back in 2016. While it didn’t win, the competition effectively kick-started local efforts to address the city’s transportation needs and prepare it for future mobility
Every January, the city shines a spotlight on the latest electronics technology, and automakers have been muscling in on the show floor. It only makes sense that the host city to such an event would want to present itself as an innovator in overall smart city systems, automotive technologies and transit solutions.
Before the conferences, though, there were the casinos, where the atmosphere of risk attracted visitors. That sense of speculation and daring has carried over into the city’s own approach to mobility, and local authorities are showing a willingness to risk failure for the chance of success. Vegas, after all, has a reputation to protect. To learn more about the innovations in mobility in Las Vegas, download Automotive World’s Special report: The future of mobility in Las Vegas.
