Stay up to date with Hypepotamus Add us as a preferred source in Google As an Atlanta driver, there are few places that give me more personal anxiety than the parking lot at Lenox Square Mall. (The Home Depot Midtown lot and the Trader Joe’s parking lot are close contenders, though). It’s not just human drivers to blame anymore for parking frustrations. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already adding a new layer of chaos to Atlanta’s most crowded lots. While convenient for riders, AVs are already disrupting parking operations at places like Lenox Square Mall, dropping off passengers in inconvenient spots, clogging valet lanes, and creating bottlenecks for pedestrians and traffic alike. At Lenox, the situation had become acute enough that Simon Property Group, which runs the mall, called it an “emergency situation.” To address the growing AV management challenge, Lenox is now one of the first properties in Atlanta to deploy technology from Bay Area-based startup Autolane, which has built a ride-hailing orchestration system designed to bring order to AV curbside chaos. What Is Autolane, and How Does Its Smart Curbside System Work? Autolane is a hardware and software startup building infrastructure to coordinate autonomous vehicles at retail and commercial properties, acting as a communication layer between AV companies and property owners. Ben Seidl, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, told Hypepotamus that Autolane solves the “communication, coordination, and control” problems that arise when AVs interact with retail locations. The core issue is that AV companies aren’t in direct communication with individual property owners. Each location has its own traffic plans and specific preferences for how vehicles should navigate their property. But autonomous vehicle companies aren’t coordinating with every venue. And unlike human drivers, AVs can’t read a hand-written sign, take a cue from a parking attendant, or make a judgment