Heya friends, happy Friday!
This week’s edition is composed of links primarily for two key reasons: (1) since missing last week’s edition for a wedding in Mexico there is lots to cover, and (2) my brain is fried from said wedding in Mexico (more on this in bits and bobs though).
However before we dive in, I want to put in a plug for the beloved San Francisco Bicycle Coalition which is hiring a Director of Development. If you—or your friend / coworker / lover / enemy—would be a good fit for the role please reach out! I’d be happy to share more about the org and how important the development team is to achieving the organization’s mission 💓
Ok time for some news!
The more you know!
A review of America’s deadliest intersections (Stacker)
Fascinating look from over 18 years of crash reporting data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There are maps, diagrams, bar charts, and all that nerdy stuff for what is otherwise a very depressing article.
Positive news? London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone has helped reduce air pollutants in the city by 49% (The Guardian)
NO2 pollutants were lower last year than in lockdown during 2020 (!! crowd literally goes wild !!)
What it’s like to be a pedestrian or biker in NYC
This week the NYT put out a piece about why bike deaths have risen in New York (NYT - thank you Richard for the share!). It’s difficult to see e-bikes be pitted as the safety issue in a city that has so far to go when it comes to road infrastructure.
In addition, newsletter friend John Surico put out a piece about how NYC had its safest year ever for pedestrians. He went into a deep dive on what the city did right for a dose of “things aren’t great, but they are getting better”. I love a dose of optimism, so thank you John for bringing that (Bloomberg)
Waymo is officially launching in Los Angeles despite a lackluster welcome from local city officials, including Mayor Karen Bass (The Verge)
Related, this article nicely captures the efforts underway by California cities to recapture control of their streets away from AV companies via SB 915 (Jalopnik)
And this article details how San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Mateo have all recently passed resolutions supporting SB:915 (a bill that would allow for local governance of autonomous vehicles vs. being managed by the CPUC) (SD15)
And (!) San Mateo County has filed an appeal to the enforcement arm of the CPUC against their approval of Waymo’s latest license that would allow them to launch in the county.
So much Waymo news……… they also plan to launch a ride-hailing service in Austin later this year (Tech Crunch), and the Mayor has also expressed concerns there too (The Hill)
California plans to require AV companies to share more data with the cities that they operate within (SF Chronicle)
The more you know!
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has a new ranking system for partially automated driving systems, and all the major auto OEMs seem to flunk the test (The Verge)
A man was arrested in Los Angeles after trying to steal a Waymo … lol (NBC)
Applied Intuition, an autonomous vehicle software company based out of Mountain View, has raised $250M bringing its total valuation to a cool $6B (Tech Crunch).
Opposite vibes: Phantom Auto is shutting down. They had originally secured $95M in funding and could not secure additional funds after seven years (Tech Crunch)
Wired tested China’s various autonomous vehicle platforms and ranked them so you don’t have to! They look at XPeng’s XNGP, Li Auto’s NOA, and Nio’s NOP+. I think Nio’s wins on name alone (Wired.. use Incognito mode if you hit the paywall!)
A look at what (the internet imagines) Apple’s autonomous vehicle could have been (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg also estimates Apple sank a billion dollars into the project every year. See below for what that could have been invested in otherwise (Bloomberg)
Zoox published a blog detailing their expanded routes, operational hours, and top speeds for operations across California and Nevada (Electrek)
A Mobileye exec joins Wayve, a UK autonomous vehicle start-up, as their new president (Wayve)
The more you know!
The challenges with measuring walking trips in travel surveys (Transport Reviews)
Where the $50B we’ve invested in AVs should have gone
Some highlights for our friends the trains (all combined <$50B):
Upgrading San Francisco’s entire railway network to connect multiple transit systems.
An entirely new line from New York City to Philadelphia, cutting a 90-minute journey down to somewhere around half an hour.
A high-speed rail line between Boston and New York City, bridging the two in just an hour and 40 minutes.
Trainline between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which will allow riders to cross the desert in just over two hours without touching a single pedal or wheel.
I spent part of last week in Sayulita, Mexico (my very first time in Mexico) eating tacos, hugging friends and making new ones (hi Zeenia!!!!!). I was more or less wedding crashing, and had the best time. I will say my body is happy to return to San Francisco where I am less likely to (1) sunburn my whole body, (2) have a multi-day tequila hangover, and (3) sleep without the sound of a mariachi band playing until 2am.
I am forcing everybody I know to play the NYTs Mini crossword with me. If you want a link to my leaderboard (where I am objectively not great) please dm me lol. I would love to play with fellow transit nerds!!
Do you run a business in San Francisco and want to support / sponsor “Bike to Wherever Day”? If so reach out and I can connect you to all the right folks. Any little bit helps ❤️
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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