Planetizen
Keep Calm. Carry On. AVs Are Just the End of Parking.
2022
Research into practice
Shaping how emerging technology meets the real world.
William (Billy) Riggs is a professor, urbanist, and researcher working across cities, technology, mobility, and public policy.
Professor · Program DirectorAV&City
$1M+
Research & student support secured at USF
$2.2B
UC Berkeley building portfolio supported as Principal Planner
200+
Presentations & invited engagements
3 books
Authored books, plus a forthcoming Cambridge contribution
Core themes
01
Design
Streets, public space, and the built environment as things to be designed, delivered, and operated.
02
Technology
Automated mobility, Physical AI, and civic technology tested against how cities actually work.
03
Institutions
Programs, accreditation, governance, and partnerships that give organizations the capacity to act.
04
Impact
Research carried through to policy, procurement, training, and deployment with public partners.
Writing
Ideas for the Next City
Working theses and published writing on technology, design, and the institutions that decide what actually gets built.
Research & Tools
Five research themes
Funded work with Waymo, Cruise, the Mineta Transportation Institute, and the City of Oakland — automation, curbs, transit, climate investment, and street performance.
R1
Automated mobility & Physical AI
What does it take for automated systems to operate well in real cities?
Rider perceptions of safety and comfort, transit integration, curb allocation, accessibility policy, and the governance of automated services in shared public space.
R2
Computational urbanism & civic technology
What can we learn when cities become measurable at street resolution?
StreetOps and related computational methods for modeling street and curb operations, alongside digital transformation work with public agencies.
R3
Street design & urban operations
How should the street perform as shared civic infrastructure?
One-way to two-way street conversion, street livability, and curb management as an operational discipline rather than a static right-of-way question.
R4
Behavioral economics of sustainable travel
What actually changes how people move?
Social nudges, incentives, and behavioral interventions in travel and energy choices, tested in field and pilot settings.
R5
Climate, equity & community investment
Who benefits when cities invest in climate resilience?
Transformative Climate Communities work with the City of Oakland and the California Strategic Growth Council, and contributions on net-zero and resilient infrastructure.
Signature open framework
StreetOps
An open computational framework for modeling how streets and curbs actually operate: allocation, conflict, throughput, and access. It underpins curb data specification work with automated vehicle operators and street performance analysis with cities.
- Curb allocation and conflict modeling
- Rider experience and transit interaction analysis
- Street configuration and livability measures
Leadership
Universities should be laboratories for the future.
Good institutions do not simply study change — they rehearse it. My leadership approach connects research, teaching, industry, government, entrepreneurship, and place into a single operating model, so that what students learn, what faculty publish, and what cities deploy reinforce one another.
Leadership in depth- 01
Program direction
Professor and program director/chair work at the University of San Francisco, spanning public administration, engineering, management, and entrepreneurship and innovation.
- 02
Accreditation
Leading NASPAA accreditation and self-study, with participation in AACSB, ABET, and WASC processes across professional and technical programs.
- 03
Founding platforms
Founder and director of Autonomous Vehicles & the City, a platform connecting research, policy, training, and consulting on automated mobility.
- 04
Capital projects
Former Principal Planner at UC Berkeley, working with campus leadership on design review, major capital projects, and a multi-billion-dollar building portfolio.
- 05
Partnerships & convening
Faculty governance, conference organization, and external partnerships with cities, industry, and international consortia that outlast any single grant.
Platform · Founded & led by William (Billy) Riggs
Autonomous Vehicles & the City
A platform for research, policy, training and consulting.
AV&City brings together researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, practitioners, and communities to understand how automated mobility and Physical AI can contribute to better cities — not as a technology showcase, but as an honest assessment of what works, what fails, and what cities should require.
Research
Peer-reviewed studies and open evaluation methods
Training
Executive and practitioner programs for public agencies
Policy
Frameworks for state, regional, and municipal governance
Consulting
Deployment strategy for cities, operators, and investors
Books
Long-form work
Authored · Bristol University Press
End of the Road
Reimagining the Street as the Heart of the City
A case for the street as the most valuable public space a city owns, and a practical program for redesigning it around people, commerce, and civic life rather than throughput alone.
Edited volume · Routledge
Disruptive Transport
Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow
An edited collection — edited by William Riggs — on how automation, shared mobility, and new business models reshape travel behavior, land use, and the policy choices cities must make well before the technology fully arrives.
Forthcoming 2026Infrastructure for a Net Zero and Resilient Future in CitiesForthcoming
Contributor · Cambridge University Press
Infrastructure for a Net Zero and Resilient Future in Cities
Contributing author among many
A multi-author volume on decarbonization, adaptation, and the financing and governance models required to deliver resilient urban infrastructure at scale.
Speaking & Media
Talks, commentary, and convening
Recent keynotes in Ghent, Amsterdam, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, plus regular commentary for national and international press.
Recent talks
- 2026 · Invited talk
Automation and the City
Third International Conference on Clean Mobility and Energy, Ghent, Belgium
- 2026 · Invited talk
AI and the Future of Cities
ACSP, Pittsburgh, USA
- 2026 · Invited talk
Automation & the Future of Mobility
VerdeXchange, Los Angeles, USA
- 2026 · Invited talk
AV Readiness
Alameda County Conference of Mayors, Hayward, USA
- 2026 · Organizer, moderator & presenter
Autonomous Vehicles & the City Symposium
AV&City Symposium, San Francisco, USA
Selected media
De Correspondent
De zelfrijdende auto lost straks al onze verkeersproblemen op (toch?)
Article · Aug 3, 2026
The San Francisco Standard
Waymo keeps blocking SF firefighters, and they're fed up
Article · Jul 10, 2026
Western City
Robotaxis raise complex questions about safety, climate, and transit
Article · Jul 6, 2026
Autonomy Insiders
What Waymo's data reveals about who actually rides robotaxis
Podcast · Jun 9, 2026
California Sun
Professor William Riggs on why we fear Waymos more than bad drivers
Podcast · May 14, 2026
Work With Me
Four ways to collaborate
Selective engagements with universities, public agencies, industry, and foundations.
Academic & Institutional Leadership
Dean, director, and provost-level engagements: interdisciplinary program design, accreditation strategy, faculty governance, research infrastructure, and organizational models that hold together across departments.
Universities, schools, research institutes
Research Partnerships
Co-designed studies with cities, agencies, industry, and international consortia — readiness assessment, pilot evaluation, curb and street operations, and multi-year funded programs.
Agencies, foundations, industry labs
Advisory & Consulting
Strategic counsel on automated mobility, curb and street operations, civic technology deployment, and the policy and procurement frameworks that decide whether a pilot becomes a service.
Cities, operators, investors
Speaking & Executive Education
Keynotes, workshops, and multi-day executive programs for leadership teams navigating technological and institutional change, built around decisions rather than trend reports.
Conferences, boards, leadership teams