Innovating for Uncertain Futures: How Transportation Planners in Toronto Adapt Planning and Institutional Processes in Anticipation of Automated Vehicles

Abstract

Despite more than a decade of automated vehicle trials on public roads, the anticipated driverless revolution has yet to materialise. Nevertheless, cities have been urged to manage the transition. This article examines the merits of proactive planning, analysing automated vehicle initiatives in Toronto. Employing a framework for social innovation in planning practice, I demonstrate how, over a ten-year period, municipal planners gradually introduced organizational and practice-based changes. Proactive efforts have strengthened institutional responsiveness and directed the private sector-driven transition towards local needs. While transformative change has been restrained, foundations are laid for a purposeful shift towards new logics of action.