“What we should be thinking about is not, how do we get rid of this. It is, ‘if it’s coming, how do we get the best deal for our cities, now?’” said Andrew Miller, an innovative mobility expert and co-author of the book The End of Driving. Miller, publisher of the weekly newsletter Changing Lanes, was part of a July 16 panel hosted by the Parking Reform Network, a member organization committed to educating the public about parking policy and how it can impact transportation, climate-change and housing. AVs in the United States are dominated by robotaxis, which are deployed across roughly half a dozen major metropolitan regions, with more on the way. That’s a significant leap in growth from six to eight years ago when AV technology was more talk than reality. “If you think they’re a fake or a con, I wouldn’t blame you for that, because people [talked] so much nonsense about this technology, from roughly 2005 to roughly 2020, and it poisoned the well,” Miller said, recalling the seemingly endless chatter about AVs in transportation technology circles. “It’s not a dodge. It’s real,” he said, noting some 40 percent of ride-hailing trips in San Francisco are via Waymo. Ultimately, driving automation will not be limited to ride-hailing, but will make its way to personal vehicles, Miller said, adding, “there’s no world where self-driving [vehicles] doesn’t lead to much more [traffic] congestion. That’s just going to happen. I don’t see any way around that.” A new report by the Sam Schwartz Transportation Research Program at Hunter College, in collaboration with advocacy organization Open Plans, found that unless clear policies are put in place, self-driving taxis will endlessly circle blocks in dense areas like Manhattan rather than park before returning to service, adding to more congestion. “This report