Taking an Ecosystem approach to examining the Cascadia Corridor between Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA
Background: On Sept 20th 2016 the CBC reported on Madrona Venture Group’s suggestion that the I-5/Highway 99 link between Seattle and Vancouver ought to become a corridor for autonomous vehicles. The report, which can be found here, argues that dedicating space for self-driving cars and trucks on the busy highway would reduce congestion, offer a safer, more flexible travel experience, and cost far less than proposed high-speed rail.
On the same day, the Emerging Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference took place in Vancouver where Bill Gates and Satya Nadelaare of Microsoft attended alongside Washington Governor Jay Inslee and BC Premier Christy Clark. The purpose of the conference was to share ideas for creating a “hub of innovation” in the area. Human capital was a major point of discussion. Topics included cross border collaboration, Canada’s approach to immigration and refugees, and Microsoft’s special exemption from having to complete labour market assessments – making it much easier to hire internationally out of their Vancouver office.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the arguments raised by the Madrona Venture Group in favour of an autonomous vehicle corridor. Be able to critique these with counter arguments, or raise concerns that have not yet been addressed in their initial report.
- Consider the implications of a cross-border ecosystem and be able to discuss the affects that an international boundary might have on both the proposed system for self-driving cars and the existing but ever changing labour market system.
- Establish a framework for discussing the Cascadia Corridor, inclusive of Seattle and Vancouver, as a very large ecosystem in the context of this course and sustainable engineering practice.
References:
Alberg, T., Mundie, C., Li, D., & Rakies, C (2016). Autonomous Vehicle Plan for the I-5 Seattle/Vancouver B.C. Corridor. Retrieved from Madrona Venture Group website: http://www.madrona.com/i-5/
CBC News. (2016, September 20). Driverless highway from Vancouver to Seattle proposed. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/
Omand, G. (2016, September 20). Bill Gates says Trudeau’s approach to immigration , refugees good for business. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/
The Canadian Press. (2016, September 20). Bill Gates in Vancouver for Emerging Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/
It is an interesting lesson that explores some of the possible issues involved with having an autonomous vehicle lane in the I-5 corridor. We could perhaps expand the perspectives involved in critiquing the proposal by giving consideration to environmental and social (the people other than those utilising the road) aspects of the I-5 corridor. An ecosystem approach to designing a highway would require keeping in mind all the different ecosystems that the highway crosses. I came across this book that assesses the impacts of roads on ecosystems. Chapter 3 explores some of the ways in which roads affect the surrounding environment. We could keep those ideas in mind and explore the ways in which the introduction of the autonomous lane will change the affect the I-5 corridor has on the ecosystems it crosses.
https://www.nap.edu/read/11535/chapter/5
Very interesting approach to week´s 3 lesson.
I would like to know what economical and social reasons made more plausible to connect Seattle-Vancouver than other pairs of cities between the US and Canada.
I think that the learning objective N°2 is difficult to connect it directly with sustainability without going out too much of the scope of the course. However, I hope that we could discuss further on the point N°3.