Heya friends, happy Friday!
I have two very important shout-outs this week:
My friend Bridget who wrote the last edition of Along for the Ride about wicked urban challenges and radical inclusion in urban planning. Please give it a read if you have not already!
My friend Rosie who has single handedly designed the whole brand for my newsletter?! I feel like an actual newsletter writer, and it is because of Rosie’s beautiful design skills (seriously how cool is this gif!!).
Please overwhelm them with your appreciation with kind comments + liking this post 💗. In addition, Rosie and I learned that substack now has the capability to create AI-generated art work, so I present to you Squirrel Riding a Bike in an Epic Theme. You’re welcome. Up next: A lot of news!
Research on Low Emission Zones across Europe shows that when the programs are sufficiently ambitious, they work quickly to reduce air pollution. This is great news as Biden clears the way for NYC to *finally* implement congestion pricing (Politico).
Inspired by my parents who are currently in Brussels, eating frites and riding trams. What was once Europe’s traffic capital is now a major city turning tides towards sustainable transportation—and rapidly seeing mode shift as part of this investment. “In 2017 cars accounted 64% of the miles traveled within the city; by 2021 the figure had fallen under 50%.”
Saving transit costs less than letting it die
This one is *top of mind* for me this week as looming cuts to public transit in the Bay Area feels ever-present and existential. “A new analysis of the costs of not helping Bay Area public transportation agencies fill a $2.5 billion funding gap found that it would cost former riders twice that much - $5 billion - in annual car ownership costs alone.”
The more you know!
Autonomous buses are launching in Japan (IoT World Today)
NHTSA is proposing a pass-fail rating for pedestrian safety (Route Fifty)
The UK’s transport minister thinks rolling out AVs now will create a “moral panic” (The Times)
The Chamber of Progress (a tech-oriented lobbying group) is urging Senate Majority leader (Schumer) to green light the AV bill (again) (The Hill)
The US’ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) criticizes the Federal Government’s slow pace of innovation on AVs (CNN)
Where are governments testing AVs? (GovTech)
Well, it’s officially-official. Uber will surface Waymo’s fleet of autonomous cars in their app.The partnership will start in Pheonix, Arizona later this year before expanding to other Waymo cities. The vehicles will be used for both Uber rides and Uber Eats.
Wired has a super interesting piece about how much data is required to operate an autonomous vehicle—and the tradeoffs that ensue. “Growing fleets, fancier sensors, and tighter budgets are forcing autonomous vehicle developers to get pickier about what stays on their servers.”
Cruise expands to Houston and Dallas
GM’s Cruise is expanding their operations to Texas (yee-haw!). The service will begin with human drivers testing cars on city streets, before launching full taxi operations in a few months.
The more you know!
Baidu launches AV taxi service in Chongqing and Wuhan (China Certification)
Waymo’s Phoenix expansion makes it the largest AV operating area in the world (Planetizen), and residents are already complaining the cars are taking up their parking spaces (Youtube / Fox)
Cruise and Waymo close to charging customers for 24/7 service in San Francisco (TechCrunch)
AV trucking company, TuSimple, received a delisting warning from the NYSE (SelfDrivingCars360)
Yet another video of Tesla’s advanced driving support f*cking up (ArsTechnica)
A look into Alibaba’s autonomous driving lab (TechCrunch)
Does travel cost matter more for people on lower incomes?
Research out of Portland shows that its reduced fare Honored Citizens Fare (HCF) “positively affects the physical, mental, and social lives of [low-income residents].” In addition the, “results can help transportation planners, policy makers, and public transportation agencies devise strategies that better serve all members of the community in a multimodal way.”
The more you know!
Exploring methods to increase safety reliability in AVs (MIT)
“For Americans, a car has two fundamental attributes: you own it, and you use it for all of your mobility needs, whether you’re going one mile or 1,000. Unfortunately, getting modern “AI” to drive at expected levels of safety requires limiting the operating domain and using sensing hardware that costs more than the car itself.”
The more you know!
How will we know when AVs are safe enough? (Wall Street Journal)
The UK is losing ground in the AV road race (The Times)
AV fever has cooled down VC funding, but the cars seem to be sticking around for good (The Verge)
Why do AVs keep causing traffic jams? (Hackaday)
I’m heading back across the pond and will be in London late June / early July! If you’re around and want to grab coffee / a pint, shoot me an email!
Our friends over at LACI have open applications for startups looking to pilot / grow / scale their impact! Learn more here!
Sharing this funny-if-it-wasn’t-so-god-damn-true Onion *satire* article about how Houston law requires 10 parking spaces for every parking space.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah