Along for the Ride #207
The Monday edition
Heya friends, happy Friday Monday.
This week’s newsletter is reaching you a few days late for two reasons: (1) I was a sick-little-bug of a human being last week and needed rest, and (2) this week I’ll be in LA visiting my sweet friend Sylvia and taking the week off from newsletter-ing.
Before we kick off this week’s edition, I want to share two opportunities to hang out with lil’ ole me and support safer streets in San Francisco:
Next weekend is the Great Hauntway aka when San Francisco’s Great Highway becomes the most magical and spooky stretch of car-free beachy wonder. It is filled to the brim with kids high on various plastic-wrapped candies and the great vibes provided by car-free streets. Come hang out, I’ll be dressed as a space cowgirl ✨🐮🪩!
On November 5th, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is hosting its annual member party, Winterfest! It’ll be a fabulous party with lots of giveaways, competitions, and more. Come through and chat bikes with me!
OK, time for ze news:
Read of the Week
America’s car culture was always going to make it the centre of car autonomy, and the Atlantic has a deep-dive into why America is about to see a lot more AVs.
”What that means is that we’ll likely see more of these [safety] incidents as the robotaxis, and Cruise in particular, spread beyond San Francisco. The most troubling prospect is that a new era in which self-driving cars are operating in even more cities may bring issues experts can’t predict..
“None of this is stopping Cruise or Waymo from slowing down. The two companies are in an arms race to advance their self-driving cars, a competition that is also between two industries. Waymo, which began as Google’s self-driving car project and is owned by Alphabet, is as Silicon Valley as start-ups come. Cruise, meanwhile, is owned by General Motors, a legacy automaker that hasn’t historically been anything like a tech company and is far less cash-flush.’”
Stockholm plans to ban ICE vehicles in city centre by 2025
Filed under: love to see it. Stockholm, well known for its transportation policy innovations such as congestion charging, is planning to ban Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles from entering the city centre starting in 2025. Importantly, this includes both diesel- and gas-powered vehicles. (In reading this article, I learned that the Vice Mayor is friends with a guy I used to date waaaaay back, who is also subscribed to this newsletter. Gotta love how small the world can be 😂 and hopeful all of my ex’s friends can be as committed to car-free streets).
Sometimes I wonder if I am just a little too critical of AVs; I am a firm believer in checking in on my assumptions on a semi-regular basis to understand where my knowledge gaps and belief systems may be preventing me from being open to a different perspective. And then I read pieces like this and am reminded that many people share concerns over AVs and feel annoyed that we are spending this much time, money, and effort to make a better car when we could be making better cities.
This piece captures some public comment from a Downtown Commission meeting in Austin, where residents shared concerns over the introduction of AVs noting the chaos they have brought to city streets. And thus I remain on my high horse for the time being.
The more you know:
Rishi Sunak makes plans to bring AVs to the UK in the next four years—cue my eyeballs rolling back (Telegraph)
Cruise under Federal investigation
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) is investigating Cruise after its fleet crashed or almost crashed into pedestrians in SF (🫠). The Office of Defects (what a name) released a report saying the investigation involved Cruise robotaxis "encroaching on pedestrians present or entering roadways," including crosswalks near the intended travel path of the vehicles. As somebody who lives in San Francisco and has experienced this exact situation multiple times over the last year (see AFTR #192 where I wrote about nearly being hit), I’m very interested to see how this irons out. If anybody works at NHSTA, I would be particularly interested in data from the intersection of Cole & Frederick and Beulah & Stanyan from experience!
Who is Missy Cummings and why does Elon Musk hate her?
Back when Elon Musk still tweeted (lol), he singled out Duke University Professor Missy Cummings after she issued warnings against Tesla’s driver-assistance programs. Musk stated that she is “extremely biased against Tesla,” so naturally his lil army of Tesla-loving followers attacked to disarm her. If anything, the Teslarati have had the opposite effect. Cummings is now a Professor at George Mason University after a stint as a Safety Advisor at NHSTA where she continues to research autonomy and its many pitfalls.
My favourite quote from this piece? “As one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots, Cummings used to fly F/A-18s. (Call sign: Shrew.) She wasn't intimidated by the dick-wagging behavior of a few people on Twitter with anime profile pics.”
This whole article is eye-opening in how mostly male tech CEOs refute Cumming’s research and experience—and is low-key the feminist story arch the industry needs. Cummings is also referenced in this week’s Read of the Week for being a badass.
The more you know:
Cruise eyes Japan for ride-sharing pilots in 2026 (The Verge)
Oxa CEO says AVs are at least a decade away (Business Insider)
How Waymo’s AVs communicate with pedestrians (The Verge)
Health effects of transit noise
I am not one to share much research about a “downside” of public transit, but after living in London and experiencing noise pollution on the tube everyday, it is worth exploring how we can improve systems to reduce negative health externalities.
“The relationship between transport noise and health outcomes is complex, in part because of the large number of factors involved as well as the range of health impacts, both direct and indirect.. Four health outcomes, namely annoyance, cognitive disruption, sleep problems, and noise-induced hearing loss, can be directly attributable to transport noise exposure. Less direct outcomes are stress, mental health, metabolic health, cardiovascular health, and overall health-related quality of life.”
“In 2016, a Mercedes-Benz executive said that in developing autonomous vehicles (AVs), the company would prioritize the safety of its customers over that of bystanders and other drivers: “If you know you can save at least one person, at least save that one. Save the one in the car.” The company probably did not expect the media backlash that ensued.”
“The rebels embraced the label. In a response posted on social media, they offered up a quick history lesson, explaining that the original Luddites, the cottage workers of the early 19th century who took hammers to mechanized looms and knitting frames, weren’t actually tech haters. They were simply citizens pushing back on an exploitative system—in their case, mass production—that threatened to swallow them whole. The cone-toting activists saw their own ambushes of the machines as a strike in favor of a better society, cured of “car brain” and more invested in bike lanes and mass transit. Luddites indeed, proudly.”
I wrote a lot of today’s newsletter on Sunday, as rain drizzled on and off in San Francisco. I decided it was a good day to lay low and do a few of my favourite things: cook a 30-garlic clove pasta sauce, listen to a playlist I made in 2020 (that perfectly captures the mixed emotions I had at the time 😆), and write. As I type now, the sweet smell of garlic confit is wafting through my apartment and it is indeed giving me the warm fuzzies.
This week I’m grateful for my friend Tookie who came and brought me food and cleaned my kitchen when I was feeling incredibly ill on Thursday. She sat with me, forcing electrolytes down my throat and putting Bridget Jones on in the background as I napped. Despite feeling relatively grim, I rebounded by Friday and it’s in part to having such a great friend. Love you T!
My friend Love included a link to this uhhhh hilarious (urbanism-related!) reality TV moment in her newsletter this week, and it cracks me up every time I watch it. Sharing the joy onwards.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends, and I’ll see ya in ~two weeks.
Sarah
Luddites forever! Glad to hear you are feeling better. Enjoy your trip.