Ghost Riders & Empty Miles: The Hidden Costs of Convenience from Automated Vehicles

When: November 20, 2025 | 2:00 -- 3:00 PM ET

This webinar is led by the ITE Planning Council.

Webinar Description:

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise safer streets and greater mobility—but the road to full automation comes with significant risks. In ITE’s latest technical brief, Potential Secondary Effects of Increasing Automation, authors Dan Hennessey, Mallory Scates, and Jimmy Jessup examine how Level 5 AVs could reshape land use, impact transit, worsen congestion, and introduce complex equity and cybersecurity challenges. This webinar will explore how AVs may alter the built environment and transport systems—potentially intensifying sprawl, undermining public transit, and shifting liability from drivers to manufacturers. The takeaway is clear: the future of AVs is not just technological, but deeply social, political, and spatial. The webinar also includes Jen Duthie, Head of Innovation with Cintra, to discuss how her firm is working through this space with manufacturers, operators, and government entities. With proactive planning and impartial and focused policy, transportation professionals can guide automation toward more sustainable outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the potential secondary effects of Level 5 autonomous vehicles (AVs) on land use, urban form, and transportation systems.
• Describe how increased automation may exacerbate urban sprawl and reshape the built environment.
• Explain the possible impacts of AVs on public transit ridership, service models, and long-term viability.
• Identify key concerns related to AV deployment, including access disparities and community impacts.
• Discuss the cybersecurity vulnerabilities introduced by highly automated vehicles and their implications for public safety.
• Analyze how liability and responsibility for crashes may shift from drivers to AV manufacturers.
• Evaluate planning and policy strategies that can help mitigate the negative effects of AVs on congestion, land use, and community impacts.
• Formulate equity-centered, sustainable approaches that transportation professionals can use to guide AV integration in their communities.

Moderator: Dan Hennessey, PTP, Director, Transportation and Public Works | City of Santa Rosa, CA | Santa Rosa, CA, USA

Presenters:

• Mallory Scates, PTP, Senior Project Manager | Freese & Nichols | San Antonio, TX, USA
• Jimmy Jessup, Transportation Engineer | Parametrix | Oakland, CA, USA
• Jen Duthie, PE, Senior Innovation Manager | Cintra US | Austin, TX, USA