NEWS

Marie Donlon

12 February 2018

As the reality of fully autonomous vehicles draws nearer, housing developer Syd Kitson is at work readying his eco-friendly smart city for driverless technology.

Located in Florida, Kitson’s Babcock Ranch already includes a solar farm addressing the town’s energy needs, rain gardens, an irrigation system using recycled water, restaurants, stores, a school and 20,000 homes.

According to a statement on the Babcock Ranch website: “From expansive public green spaces and trails to utility-scale solar generation and a gigabyte of fiber-optic connectivity standard to every home and free wi-fi everywhere you may roam, it’s a place where families can benefit from the most advanced technologies, then walk out their doors to reconnect with nature and neighbors.”

Among those advanced technologies, according to Kitson, will be a network of self-driving shuttles getting residents to their destinations, potentially putting an end to residents’ reliance on personal vehicles.

“We’ll be able to turn parking areas into parks and really change the way that people go from point to point,” said Kitson.

Residents will begin moving to Babcock Ranch this winter.