Along for the Ride #192
When AVs kill dogs and delay emergency responses
Heya friends happy Friday!
A big ole’ happy birthday to four of my favourite subscribers: Tookie, Rosie, Sylvia, and my dad (!). As you can all tell, Geminis surround me—and I am not mad about it 💖.
For the first time ever (!), I nearly got hit by an AV in San Francisco. As I walked through an intersection, a Cruise car (with a passenger!) kept driving while I was in the intersection. For a reason (very) unknown to me, I lunged forward as it kept coming toward me, and we had a very tense moment where it moved back and forth trying to decide if it would cross the intersection while I was clearly in it. It was the first time I thought, “huh, a human driver would have a much safer response to this.” I alas do not remember the car’s name (but it was at Stanyan and Waller! if you happen to work at Cruise..).
I have had a few folks recently pledge their support for this newsletter (partially because I didn’t realize the button at the end of the newsletter converts from “subscribe now” to “pledge now” if you’re a subscriber. Capitalism truly never quits!). I might one day have this feature enabled, but not today because quite frankly additional US taxes terrify me (lol). Thank you to those who have pledged—that is so unbelievably kind of you; if Substack takes any of your money let me know because I don’t even have my stripe account set up! So they are stealing from you!
Alrighty, time for the news!
How public transit makes cities safer
“The best way to avoid crashes is to avoid cars.” This article recaps some conversations from UITP Public Transit Summit in Barcelona earlier this month, namely one with Montreal’s City Councillor, Sophie Mauzerolle, on vision zero and public transit.
How the US has stalled when it comes to public transit development
Filed under: things that make me sad. But also, this article is nerdy as hell, so worth the read. It looks at the Transit Explorer database (nerdy point 1) and considers how other countries have come to surpass the US (and the UK!) when it comes to the development of regional, rail-based public transit networks (nerdy 2).
“As late as 1980, the United States had more kilometers of metro lines per capita than all large developed countries but the United Kingdom—thanks in part to large public investments in projects like Washington’s Metro and San Francisco’s BART. In the decades since, both the United States and the United Kingdom have stagnated, falling behind even as other countries, particularly China, but also India and many in Europe and South America, have invested in massive new construction campaigns. Much of the world’s urban areas are rapidly becoming dominated by metro service.”
California lawmakers are questioning the DMV’s approach to autonomous trucking
Ah the constant tension between “innovation” and “using members of the public as guinea pigs”, what a fun debate. There are currently numerous debates at the State level (including the DMV) about how to regulate autonomous trucks and what precautions need to be in place for their operations. The State Assembly passed a bill that could require heavy-duty, autonomous trucks to keep safety operators onboard until a series of reviews after Jan. 1, 2029.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (!! this is an actual name of an actual group of people !!) praised the move, saying “AB316 will keep California roads safe” and AV companies “will create more middle-class jobs than they destroy.” Yet to see it or believe it my friends.
SF officials don’t want your AV
And when I say, “really don’t want” I mean willing to plant op-eds on Governing.com about it. SFMTA is actively asking regulators to slow down the roll-out of AVs, and as you read above (and as you will read below), probably a good idea (imho). Two letters were sent at the end of May because the two companies operating in the city (Waymo and Cruise) had “dozens of incidents of self-driving taxis behaving erratically and interrupting traffic.” Womp womp womp.
The more you know:
The Latinx City, a new book (Public Books)
London is mandating that all trucks have traffic cameras to protect pedestrians and other road users, because of course they are (Traffic Technology)
10% of driving at peak hours is searching for parking 😵💫 (Parking Reform)
Ah yes, in my fair city of San Francisco, a Waymo AV has not only hit a dog but also killed it. This is one of two official grievances (with reports, etc) of recent AV “misdemeanors”. According to Waymo neither the vehicle nor the driver could prevent the collision, and ultimately the untimely death of the dog. In their report, they noted that the dog “did not survive” the incident. Waymo’s official statement is below:
“On May 21 in San Francisco, a small dog ran in front of one of our vehicles with an autonomous specialist present in the driver’s seat, and, unfortunately, contact was made.
“The investigation is ongoing, however, the initial review confirmed that the system correctly identified the dog which ran out from behind a parked vehicle but was not able to avoid contact. We send our sincere condolences to the dog’s owner. The trust and safety of the communities we are in is the most important thing to us and we’re continuing to look into this on our end.”
Cruise AVs prevent emergency vehicles from attending a mass shooting in SF
A title that can only come from about seven square miles of the US (this is a lie: this title could also come from… Chandler, Arizona, and Austin, Texas?). Last week there was a targeted shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District where nine people were injured. If that wasn’t scary enough, AVs made things worse. As emergency vehicles rolled through, Cruise AVs did not know how to compute what to do next. In a video on twitter, you can hear police officers shout, “It’s blocking emergency medical and fire. I’ve got to get it out of here now!”
Y’all do you know how bad it has to be for the Daily Mail to report on this too.
Jaguar has recalled I-PACE vehicles over battery fires
This is a pretty big deal because the I-PACE is one of the vehicles used by numerous AV companies to test their equipment (for example, most of Waymo’s fleet in SF is composed of Jaguar I-PACEs). Here’s hoping the recall is contained because the last thing we need is flaming AVs rolling around.
Mercedes can sell cars with automation in California
I did not mean for this week’s edition to be “here’s what’s happening in California and ignore everybody else,” but as SouldKid #1 states we’ve got more bounce in California. Mercedes-Benz is officially allowed to sell and lease cars in California with Level 3 autonomy (a feat not even Tesla has achieved). Owners of vehicles can turn automation on while traveling on designated highways under certain conditions.
The more you know:
NHSTA Staffer joins Zoox (Reuters)
AV trucking company Einride expands to Norway (Reuters)
TuSimple can test AV trucks across all of China in a nationwide permit (PingWest)
Car-free cities are the future (biometrics said so)
“For this study of car-free streets, we used iMotions Online AFFDEX facial coding software to track 51 participants’ real-time visual attention and facial expressions in response to images and videos of Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Mass. Although our participants expressed neutral emotions in response to the images 85 percent of the time, participants spent on average 0.4 percent more time expressing positive emotions in response to vehicle-less images and videos. While seemingly a small difference, any measurable effect from a still image can signal something worth considering in a real-world setting where people are surrounded by cars.”
Why the UK is falling behind on AV legislation
“Despite the government's vision to be a world leader in AV technology, truly driverless cars are not currently permitted on Britain's roads, making it difficult for start-ups to commercialize their vehicles and insurers to assess to commercialize their vehicles and insurers to assess their risks.”
The more you know
How AVs could impact ridesharing (CBS)
While writing this week’s edition I put on Indiana Jones’ Temple of Doom in the background… (I am currently watching the series for the first time), and let me tell you …. low-key spooky. Is there anything Han Solo can’t do?!
I’ll be in London starting … tomorrow! See you there? Shoot me an email if you’d like to grab a coffee / bevvie / Santander Cycles around town.
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is actively recruiting for their Incubation program, a two-year cleantech program to drive impact, market & investment readiness, and pilots. Applications are due June 23, 2023.
Jobs you should apply for:
The Open Mobility Foundation is hiring a Director of Partnerships and Development!
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
