William Riggs

William (Billy) Riggs, Ph.D., AICP, LEED AP is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management and the Director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative. He has worked in venture capital and management consulting and been an advisor to multiple companies and start-ups on technology, engineering, smart mobility and urban development. His experience also extends to academic administration, curriculum design, and finance having held academic appointments in city planning and transportation engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, and the University of Louisville. In the recent past was chair City of Palo Alto’s Planning and Transportation Commission and Planning Commissioner for the City of San Luis Obispo for a total of almost 10 years and a Trustee and Board Member of Horicon School District where we led a successful voter initiative to approve $11M bond to support teacher housing and infrastructure. 

Dr. Riggs’ academic research focuses primarily on transportation innovation, urban technology, sustainable development, transport economics and business models, and the future of cities. He is has over 100 publications; with work featured in media outlets—including the Economist, Forbes, Wired Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, PBS, TF1, the Atlantic and more. He is the author of two books, End of the Road: Reimagining the Street as the Heart of the City and Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow. He has been recognized with many research awards over his career and has been both a National Science Foundation Fellow and a UC Transportation Center Fellow. 

Dr. Riggs work outside of academia has included two decades work as a professional planner and urban designer, economist, and transportation engineer. This includes work as the founder of INTN.CITY, SFLUV.org and ReStreet.com, Director of Research at Sustinere Consulting, an investment partner at Just Business, Transportation Program Manager and Principal Planner for UC Berkeley, Asset Manager and Engineering Technician for the US Coast Guard. He has been involved with many automated vehicles projects around the world including SHOW, ULTIMO, and Diversify-CCAM. He currently serves on the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Policy and Law, Committee on Emerging Technology and Law and the Committee on the Landscape and the Built Environment.

• Transportation innovation
• Management
• Autonomous vehicles
• Entrepreneurship & innovation
• Sustainable engineering & design
• Urban planning 

• Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative, co-Director 2017-
• 3 Revolutions Future Mobility (3RFM) program at ITS Davis, Steering Committee, 2023-
• Center for Law Tech & Social Good, University of San Francisco, Affiliated Faculty, 2023- 
• Association of College Schools of Planning (ACSP), Executive Government Board, 2023-
• Partners for Autonomous Vehicle Education (PAVE), Advisory Board, 2022-
• UITP Automated Vehicles Working Group, 2022-
• Transportation Research Board, Standing Committee on Emerging Technology and Law, 2023-
• Transportation Research Board, Standing Committee on Landscape and the Built Environment, 2022-
• Transportation Research Board, Standing Committee on Policy and Law, 2017-
• Research Associate, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), San Jose State, 2012-
   

• Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2011
• Master of Urban Planning, Economics and Spatial Analysis, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 2003
• Bachelor of Arts, History, Ball State University, 2001

• Principal and Director of Research, Sustinere, ongoing.
• Strategy, Technical Direction and Communications, Select Bay Area Technology Companies, ongoing.
• Research Associate, San Jose State University, San Jose, ongoing.
• City of Palo Alto, Planning and Transportation Commission, ongoing.
• Contributor and Instructor, Planetizen.com, ongoing.

• Community Service Award, The Sea Ranch Association, 2023

• Kettering Institute Fellow, 2021-2022

• Outstanding Research Award, University of San Francisco, 2021

• Outstanding Research Award, University of San Francisco School of Management, 2018

• ITE Excellence in Transportation Awards, City of San Luis Obispo Circulation Element, 2016

• Perry Chapman Prize, Society for College and University Planners (SCUP), 2016

• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, 2008

• American Planning Association, ‘Outstanding Federal Planning Project’, 2007

• Commendation Medal, US Coast Guard, 2005, 2006

For a full list of publications, please visit Google Scholar.

• Boeing, G., & Riggs, W. (Billy). (2024). Converting One-Way Streets to Two-Way Streets to Improve Transportation Network Efficiency and Reduce Vehicle Distance Traveled. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 44(3), 1670-1678. 
• Riggs, W., Schrage, N., Shukla, S., Mark, S. (2023). The Trip Characteristics of a Pilot Autonomous Vehicle Rider Program: Revealing Late Night Service Needs and Desired Increases in Service Quality, Reliability and Safety. In: Meyer, G., Beiker, S. (eds) Road Vehicle Automation 10. ARTSymposium 2022. Lecture Notes in Mobility. Springer, Cham.
• Riggs, W. (2022). End of the Road: Reimagining the Street as the Heart of the City. Bristol University Press.
• Riggs, W. (2019). Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow. London: Routledge.
• Riggs, W. 2018. Technology, Civic Engagement and Street Science: Hacking the Future of Participatory Street Design in the Era of Self-Driving Cars. In dg.o ’18 Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, May 30-June 1, 2018, Delft, Netherlands. ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article 4, 6 pages.
• Riggs, W., Larco, N., Tierney, G., Ruhl, M., Karlin-Resnick, J. and Rodier, C. (2018) Autonomous Vehicles and the Built Environment: Exploring the Impacts on Different Urban Contexts. In Meyer, G., & Beiker, S. (eds) Road Vehicle Automation. Springer: London.
• Dalton, L.C., Hajrasouliha, A.H. and & Riggs, W.W. (2018) State of the Art in Planning for College and University Campuses: Site Planning and Beyond. Journal of the American Planning Association. 84:2, 145-161, doi:10.1080/01944363.2018.1435300.
• Frederick, C., Riggs W. and Gilderbloom, J. I. (2018). Commute Mode Diversity and Public Health: A Multivariate Analysis of 148 U.S. Cities. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation.
• Riggs, W. (2016). Mobile Responsive Websites and Local Planning Departments in the US: Opportunities for the Future. Environment and Planning B.
• Gilderbloom, J. I., Riggs, W., & Meares, W. L. (2015). Does walkability matter? An examination of walkability’s impact on housing values, foreclosures and crime. Cities, 42, Part A, 13–24.