Smart Loading Zone Pilot Project

What is the project?

As curb space becomes more important to accommodate more deliveries and more mobility options, cities face the challenge of managing this space to accommodate changing needs. To help understand the options public agencies have, Automotus, LADOT, and Urban Movement Labs (UML) are piloting the use of real-time data to better understand how people use the curb, and to guide parking policy using data.

Why is this project important?

Cities like Los Angeles rely on assets like signs and paint, to communicate regulations to people who use the curb. It is challenging and costly to maintain, repair, and inventory existing curb assets, which makes it challenging to change regulations to accommodate new needs. With demand for e-commerce, food delivery, and other on-demand and/or shared services grow, cities are looking to leverage technology to better understand curb demands and refine curb policies to improve safety, access, and equity. 

What is the Code the Curb initiative about?

Code the Curb is an initiative of LADOT to digitize the city’s network of curbside signage, painted curbs, and other regulatory tools along city streets and to develop capabilities to communicate and share easy-to-understand data about curb rules and regulations with people who use them. This pilot project will help the city understand how new technologies can help to digitally manage street operations today and in an autonomous future.

The goals of the project are to: 

• Assess capabilities of video analytics to provide data (regarding curbside activities and user types) on the growing commercial demand of on-street parking in dense, urban centers in Los Angeles that inform curbside regulations; 
• Increase cyclist and pedestrian safety, and support Vision Zero initiatives, by providing an understanding of multimodal curb use and inform more efficient curb use and allocation for commercial vehicles that reduce conflict in the public right of way;
• Increase retail business activity by informing curbside regulations that drive parking turnover and dedicating access to delivery services; and
• Improve operational efficiency for commercial fleets by using data collected to inform and guide fleet drivers to open commercial spaces;