Along for the Ride #130
Along for the Ride #130
It's ze last newsletter of the year!
Heya friends — happy Friday!
Writing to you from London with our last newsletter of the year ✨ I sincerely hope that as this email lands in your inbox you too are getting ready to close your laptop for a couple weeks, and rest is on the agenda. However you are spending the holidays, wishing you + yours a safe, covid-free, and relaxing new year.
This edition is short and sweet, with some highlights from the year as well as more notable recent news. I won’t opine too heavily about Elon Musk being Time’s Person of the Year, but this tweet says it all for me. Trains > Tesla (but you already knew that, right?).
Highlights from 2021
My most read newsletter of the year was my 100th edition where I wrote about what I’d learned from writing all these newsletters after all these years. If you’re new-ish here, I think it’s worth a read to hear more about my perspective on why I write this newsletter and have stayed committed to the cause.
In addition! There were some amazing guest contributors this year:
Anne Krassner wrote an edition looking at the transport news from an equity lens.
Chante Harris took the wheel another week sharing a VC perspective on climate tech.
Anthony Rosado Jr. shared a youth perspective on transport, advocating for safer streets.
If you are interested in providing a guest contribution to Along for the Ride, please respond to this email for more information! Contributions are paid, and I’ll even send ya a hand-written card! I am especially interested in bringing on writers from diverse backgrounds including (but not limited to): gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, disability, ethnicity, and more.
Notable Recent News
Mobileye is bringing AVs to Paris alongside RATP. This is probably the least exciting transport news to come out of Paris this year.. (AutoNews / Bloomberg)
A Waymo-vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco. The company is reporting the safety driver was in charge of the vehicle at the time.
Pony.AI had their license suspended in California following the revelation of a collision in October (The Verge)
A fascinating article on America’s obsession with speeding (Slate)
Most drivers don’t know the difference between autonomous vehicles and driver assistance (Streetsblog)
ArgoAI released guidelines for how AVs should act around cyclists. This is nice and all, but as a cyclist what I really want is protected bikes and fewer cars, so moot point. (ArgoAI)
What is the true cost of car congestion? (UCLA)
Extra Bits + Bobs
Jobs you should apply for!
CoMoUK is hiring a Project and Deliveries Manager for Scotland. Please feel free to reach out if you want to learn more about the organization!
Conferences + forums!
The Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC) is hosting a 1-hour forum on Wednesday, January 12th about their recently released case study on an innovative AV project—RAPID in Arlington, TX. The forum will be led by the project's director, Ann Foss.
That’s all from me friends. See you in the new year, and as always, have a beautiful weekend.
Sarah