More Effective Use of Urban Space by Autonomous Double Parking

The new capabilities of autonomous cars can be used to mitigate to a large extent safety concerns and nuisance traditionally associated with double parking. In this paper double parking for autonomous cars is proposed as a new approach to temporarily increase parking capacity in locations in clear need for extra provision when best alternatives cannot be found. The basic requirements, operation, and procedures of the proposed solution are outlined. A curbside parking has been simulated implementing the suggested double parking operation and important advantages have been identified for drivers, the environment, and the city. Double parking can increase over 50% the parking capacity of a given area. Autonomous car owners would (at least) double their probabilities of finding parking compared to traditional drivers, saving cruising time and emissions. However, significant work and technological advances are still needed in order to make this feasible in the near future.