Autonomous Vehicles impact Real Estate

Google, Uber, and Waymo are testing pilot programs across the country with autonomous vehicles. There is a large amount of speculation that driverless vehicles will become the next trend in transportation. Given our growth in technology, I don’t think we are far off. Large parking lots adjacent to office buildings will end up getting demolished for another building with drop off points. Parking garages will have to be repurposed or razed.

In 2013, a Seattle developer developed a 48-unit apartment complex with little-to-no parking. The apartment turned out to be a success. The developer noted that the residents didn’t have vehicles as Uber and Lyft have become common.

In addition, the vehicle owner would benefit greatly as well because according to Kelly Blue Book, the average new vehicle cost approximately $35,000. It is reported by certain experts that vehicles remain parked for 95% of the time, which indicate vehicles are a wasted asset.

There are many industries that will be impacted, including real estate. Access to properties will change. If electric vehicles take off, gas stations will run into problems as well. Should autonomous vehicles become a trend, most all buildings will have to adapt to drop off and pick up points instead of parking areas.

There are optimistic predictions that autonomous vehicles will be adopted by the masses by 2020. However, there are currently 260 million vehicles on the road currently, and 17 million new vehicles purchased every year. It will likely take 10 to 15 years before we see mostly autonomous vehicles on the road. Still, something to think about when analyzing properties.