Along for the Ride #256
walking the line between dread and hope
Heya friends, happy Friday.
I originally wrote half of this newsletter on time and then life got in the way. So I’m keeping my prelude from the week of the inauguration for your entertainment:
It feels odd writing from France, so far (geographically) removed from the orange cheeto’s inauguration this week, and yet we’re all quite close to regardless, aren’t we? It’s been a week of wanting to protect myself from the news, but also needing to look at everything head on, because looking away only leaves us collectively defenseless. On the one hand, being uninformed isn’t going to improve our present situation. On the other hand, it is paralyzing and depressing and fills me with dread. So I guess this weeks preamble is to say that if there is a version of finding balance during this time… I have not found it. Maybe I won’t. This week I’m trying to pay attention to my “hope twinkles” — small things, that bring levity and reprieve from all the *waves hands* things I can’t control. This week’s twinkles included:
My favourite pasta shop in San Francisco donating 5% of their sales to the SF Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative
My run club choosing to do a “pet cleanse” in the group chat whenever the news is Bad™️ and we all collectively need to receive the healing power of cat pics
Muni Routle which is the hyper-local transit game of my dreams
My friend Jai recreating the omelette from The Bear, and it being banging
Singing along to Kacey Musgrave’s Golden Hour while cooking, because it really is timeless and reminds me of my favourite people
ASK: To help starve off existential dread, I would love it if you shared your own hope twinkle in the comments for myself and others to see. I think we could all use a little inspo.
This week’s edition is a combination of thought-through reflections and links because there is toooo much to digest / reflecting on everything is hard. Even when it comes to transportation.
Post congestion charge, collisions decrease in NYC
Congestion charging, never not slaying. A reminder that less people driving = less opportunities for somebody to hit and severely injure other road users.
I love the italians. This is literally a PR piece about a single car leaving a charging station, driving one kilometre (max speed of 30 km/h) in fully autonomous driving mode and stopped at a parking area. That’s the whole story. Italy should just stick to trains (as we all should).
In Wuhan, autonomous vehicles roam free
The city has over 400 AVs providing taxi services, and counting. I like this article for two reasons: (1) it clearly describes the user experience of entering / exiting the vehicle which is (slightly) different (but notable) from vehicles in SF; and (2) it details concerns human drivers have over losing their source of income.
The more you know!
How will Waymo navigate Los Angeles’ highway system? (LA Times)
How the Netherlands eradicated potholes (honestly a flex, Telegraph)
A series of very cool / nerdy graphics about London’s transport network (cc: frank, this one is for you! London Centric)
Waymo plans to test AVs in ten cities in 2025
Waymo would send less than 10 vehicles to each city, starting with San Diego and Las Vegas, where they will be manually driven around for a couple of months to ahead of potential commercial deployments.
WeRide plans global robotaxi empire
The WSJ details how Chinese start-up WeRide is setting their sights on global prominence in the AV space. And they are well on their way with services in 30 cities across nine countries to date.
Elon Muck continues to make promises he can’t keep
I loathe that somebody who I never enjoyed writing about to begin with has somehow become even more evil (is there no rock bottom anymore??). Anyways, the new President is continuing to hype up his business and saying that AVs continue to be right around the corner, meanwhile we all know better right? He will change regulations and sway the government in favour of his fortune and still fail to deliver.
The more you know!
A Waymo was severely vandalized in LA (it was empty and stopped at a red light before it was attacked…!) (LA Times)
In SF, a Waymo was involved in collision (the vehicle didn’t cause the collision and was empty at the time) (NBC Bay Area)
Uber CEO on the impact of AVs on human drivers (Business Insider)
Waymo’s lobbyist spending skyrocketed in 2024 (TechCrunch)
CES recap of AVs (Short video via BBC)
Car-free not care-free – the social practices of parents without cars (Mobilities)
Literally fascinating.
Will increasing residential density decrease parking availability? (Transport Findings)
“How did the US become filled with sprawl? Simplistic debates about "centralized planning" versus "the free market" belie the truth: that a strong coalition of private and public interests helped create the sprawl that dominates our landscape.”
Is 2025 a breakout year for AVs?
“More robotaxis and self-driving trucks are on the way. The industry is pushing ahead with plans to deploy more vehicles just as Donald Trump moves back into the Oval Office, with influencer-in-chief Elon Musk nearby.” 🫠🫠🫠
A quick (yet detailed) story of Los Angeles, jaywalking laws, and their lingering implications.
Internships:
[Global - The UN] The UN hires a lotta interns in many different places for various roles and many related are to the sustainability development goals, so go peruse their website!
If you’re hiring interns…. please send me links!!
Full-time jobs:
[New York City - NYCDOT] Outreach Coordinator, Program Coordinator for Bike Share and Shared Mobility! Search for Job ID#s 696624, 696638, 696660, 696643
[San Francisco - Rebel] Sustainable Mobility Consultant
[London - Wayve] Commercial Strategic Partnership Manager
Last-last weekend I took the train back to Chamonix, where I sat and read my latest book, Orbital. The book is too esoteric for my liking, but if you like contemplating humanity from outer space, maybe it’s up your alley. It won a slew of prizes, but is decidedly getting a “meh” from me.
While in Chamonix, I took the télécabin nearly 4,000m up Mont Blanc (do not recommend if you are afraid of heights lol). I stepped outside for all of 15 seconds where the cold and wind made me immediately shiver and think I was about to get blown off the face of the mountain. It was beautiful, but also terrifying. Nature is humbling like that.
I’m back in London, sipping on my fav french bedtime tea that I smuggled back. I’ve snuck to the cinema to see Babygirl (not as a racy (imho) as the internet would have you believe), and The Brutalist (which I saw at the Barbican with my friends Hari and Bridget, because as architecture nerds, we had to right?).
Finally, here’s a poem I’m been ruminating on:
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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