Are Garages a Thing of the Past?
A recent article in Realtymag suggests that homes of the future may not be built with garages, as driverless cars will quickly become commonplace. Some large corporations, including Ford, GM, Tesla and Google, among others, plan to build autonomous cars, with the first ones sold commercially within five years. In fact, Goldman Sachs estimates that by 2030, driverless cars will comprise 60% of U.S. auto sales.
Developers, KB Home and KTGY Architecture recently unveiled its “KB Home ProjKt” at this year’s Greenbuild Conference, a home without a garage.
Executives at Newport Beach, California based developer, Trumark, have been in the forefront of companies seriously considering the impact of how driverless cars may reshape home construction and communities in the near future. Founder, Greg Nelson, in an interview with the website, Builderonline, states that, “One of the biggest challenges will be to convince suburban municipalities that not all homes/homebuyers will want or need a garage, or at least won’t need two spaces.”
The whole idea rests on the assumption that auto ownership will become less necessary in the future. For example, driverless auto shuttles will be able to bring people from their homes in the suburbs (or exurbs) to public transportation hubs where they can be whisked off to their place of employment, the mall or a favorite restaurant at a nominal cost to the commuter – certainly for a far cheaper price than purchasing a car, paying for regular maintenance/repairs and insurance costs. Savings would also be realized by not needing to pay for a garage space in the central business district of a city. Further, the positive impact on the environment from less cars on the road is another consideration.
Perhaps the carpool lanes of today will become the autonomous vehicle lanes of tomorrow.
Another advantage of homes without garages (or smaller ones designed for one car), is that the square footage currently required for these spaces can then be reconfigured into extra living space, something most homeowners want. Also, because commuters will be able to use driverless group shuttles to reach their place of employment much more quickly, due to less traffic congestion, these folks will be able to shop for homes further from the central business district of a city. This is ideal for homebuyers with a budget, because prices in these areas are almost always considerably less expensive.
With less land area dedicated to parking, communities can utilize that extra space for more parks, pedestrian malls, etc. Studies show that roughly a third of urban real estate is devoted to parking garages, and there are eight parking spaces for every car owned in the U.S.
The big question, not answered by these ideas, is whether Americans, known for having an almost romantic relationship with their cars, will ever be willing to part with them – or at least some of them. But the many advantages listed above, is at the very least, food for serious thought.