Uber, Lyft would gain urban car power under new, self-driving plan

Transportation and tech companies would get a much bigger piece of the urban transportation pie under a new set of “mobility principles” signed Thursday by 15 firms.

Uber, Lyft and LimeBike are among the companies that agreed to the 10-part “Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities,” which aim to “prioritize people over vehicles, lower emissions, promote equity and encourage data sharing, among other goals.”

But the 10th and final item on the document, in conjunction with the rest of the principles, would set up a scenario in which self-driving vehicles in cities could be operated only by such companies.

“We support that autonomous vehicles in dense urban areas should be operated only in shared fleets,” the principle reads.

Shared fleets would benefit the commuting public with more affordable access and would “maximize public safety,” among other things, the document goes on.

It would also run in direct competition with plans by electric car maker Tesla to launch its own fleet of autonomous vehicles that would also allow private owners to share their cars in the fleet when they weren’t in use, as well as carmakers who are increasingly adding autonomous features.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The principles were laid out last October by Robin Chase, a co-founder of Zipcar, along with a group of city and transportation organizations including the Shared-Use Mobility Center, a Chicago nonprofit interested in seeing a future of transportation that is more efficient, according to Sharon Feigon, the center’s executive director.

“In our view, shared mobility is public transit at heart. And we value that over the single-occupancy vehicle,” Feigon said. “These principles to us were about just that, about trying to promote a future that is about shared vehicles and thinking about people rather than single-occupancy vehicles.”

Among the center’s backers, only Zipcar is also a signatory to the newly announced principles.

Feigon didn’t see the principle about fleets of autonomous vehicles as a negative. Instead, she hoped ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft would work together with transit agencies to provide affordable and comprehensive transportation options throughout cities.

Uber didn’t directly respond to the question of how a scenario that limited autonomous vehicles to only fleets — some likely operated by Uber — would play out. Instead, spokesman Nathan Hambley cited published research.

“Research by the (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) shows that a mix of shared mobility options could reduce the number of vehicles required in a city by as much as 97 percent,” Hambley said by email. “We think new technology for on-demand and shared rides is an enormous part of making that vision a reality.”

As to the possible benefits for Uber, Hambley said cities would stand to benefit from such a scenario, and “that’s a vision we (and other leading companies in the space) are excited to help build.”

Lyft didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The principles aim for cities designed with transit in mind and people at the center. Single-occupancy vehicles and large tracts of parking would be limited, while combinations of public transit, bicycle and pedestrian, and shared options (autonomous vehicles run through car-share companies, for example) would dominate the transportation landscape.

Principles that focus on fairness and equity, meaning lower costs so everyone could access all the transit options, make up parts of the document, as do promises of lower — or zero — emission vehicles and open data (though car-sharing companies have a mixed record on sharing information).

“Our goal is to align cities, the private sector and civil society around a shared vision to ensure we harness the good and avoid the bad of new business models and technologies,” Chase said in a news release about the principles.

The bad could be much worse than many people might anticipate, according to Feigon.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has otherwise advocated for individual ownership of cars, has expressed concern about an excess of robot cars on the road.

In an interview at TED last year, Musk said a future of individually owned autonomous cars would push the price of car transportation down and put more cars on the roads, making congestion much worse.

Feigon echoed that sentiment.

“There’s another scenario, kind of the doomsday scenario, where every single autonomous vehicle is a single-occupancy or not even that, and they’re sort of circling around waiting for their owners,” she said. “And you’re increasing congestion and even harming land use.”

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, city hall, and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.