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The federal Liberal government has spent billions of dollars over the past four years — and promised billions more — to get people and goods moving faster. Has it worked? The Financial Post spoke with experts from industry, academia and government over the past six months about the costs of congestion and how to mitigate its burden on individuals and businesses. In the finale of this three-part series, we focus on the role technology could play.

Automation optimists envision a commuter utopia where urbanites whip around in shared, electric-powered, driver-less pods that travel close together in sync with self-driving taxis and minibuses, all connected to smart city infrastructure, potentially eliminating millions of private cars that are parked about 95 per cent of the time anyway.

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Such a shift to automated vehicles could reduce congestion costs in Toronto by $2.7 billion, according to a 2015 report by the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute that was commissioned by the city. The key is improving the communication between vehicles and infrastructure, thereby reducing bottlenecks, eliminating most traffic accidents and better adapting signals to account for weather or construction.