LOS ANGELES—Driverless cars could affect everything from where gas stations are placed to how much parking is needed for a given property, Partner Engineering and Science's president Joe Derhake said in his presentation “Disruptive Technologies: Risks and Opportunities of Changing CRE Demands” during RealShare National Investment & Finance here yesterday. The presentation dealt with how emerging market trends and advancements in technology are changing the demand and requirements for a variety of property types.

“If you can see technology coming, you can make better investments,” said Derhake. He pointed out that Amazon.com started 20 years ago, and we're still reeling from those changes. “If we could see the next thing coming, that's our goal.”

(Click here to watch an exclusive video interview with Derhake from the event floor further explaining the impact of the driverless car.)

One thing that Derhake sees coming that will “change our society as much as the Internet did” is driverless cars. “When every home owned an automobile, real estate changed,” he said. “The car was the father of suburbia in the '50s. Imagine a train of cars driving together down the freeway like a bullet train. The technology is here, but it will take a while to get used to it.”

If we develop this technology enough, computers won't make mistakes and there will be fewer car accidents, he predicted. Uber, which is already cheaper than a taxi, would be even cheaper if you take out the cost of a driver. “This will be common by 2020. Is the government going to get in our way? Probably.”

With regard to real estate in particular, Derhake said, “You can only build what you can park, but if a car parks itself you won't need as many parking garages. If cars can drive themselves, so can trucks, which could impact industrial real estate because you won't need proximity to the ports as much. Gas-station economics would also have to change. Gas stations make their money in the convenience stores since gasoline is a loss leader, but that would have to change. If cars could drive themselves to the gas station, they could go behind an industrial park instead of on a street corner—corners could then become more attractive” and used for other types of real estate.

Derhake added that his firm is conducting a survey this summer about how technology is affecting real estate. The results will be summarized in a white paper; stay tuned to GlobeSt.com for more.