Cushman & Wakefield partnered with CoreNet Global, a nonprofit global association for corporate real estate, to conduct a survey on the impact of autonomous vehicles (AV)/driverless vehicles on businesses and real estate. A total of 500 responses were collected from attendees at the 2017-2018 CoreNet Global Summits in Seattle, London, and Singapore.
Results from the survey showed that respondents living in Asia Pacific are more excited to utilize autonomous vehicles for going around town and daily commute than their counterparts in the Americas or EMEA. Respondents were asked to rate their excitement for AVs on a scale of one to five, with five being rated as “extremely excited.” Respondents from Asia Pacific scored highest in using AVs as a transport solution for going around and daily commute. Americas scored highest for the potential use of AVs for business travel.
Findings also showed that corporate real estate (CRE) executives are not overly confident that AVs will account for the majority of transport in the next six years. However, nearly two-thirds (62%) believe the tipping point will take place in the decade between 2025 and 2034. In Asia Pacific, 74% of the respondents expect AVs to take over the majority of transport by 2034.
Impact on CRE
Sentiment towards the impact of AVs on business is generally positive or neutral. As for its impact on real estate, survey results showed that for many, AV technology is going to change CRE strategy. Parking rent costs and proximity of their office space to neighborhood amenities are of extreme importance to 90% of the respondents.
One-fourth of respondents expect to have a difficult (and/or costly) time repurposing parking facilities in their portfolio that become obsolete with the implementation of AV technology. This is a significantly smaller issue for companies whose headquarters are in EMEA (14%) and Asia Pacific (18%) as opposed to the Americas (31%).
Aside from AV’s impact on CRE, the report also explored other key findings uncovered from corporate real estate executives around the world.
Download the report to read the full analysis of responses.
