Along for the Ride #258
you're invited to a london mobility meet-up!
Heya friends, happy Friday Valentines!
I am really excited to announce that my friend Matt Clark and I are starting a monthly mobility meet-up in London, and it will rotate between being an evening / morning meet-up each month (perfectly balancing my interests in pastries and a cheeky pint). If you’re in London, we have a google form here to register for our first event on Feb 27th. We already have 60+ people registered (yay!). Hop along, it’s going to be very chill (no themes, pitches, or trying to sound smart). All you need is a passing interest in urban mobility. Hope to see you there!
OK, let’s dive into the news!
This past week the great Donald Shoup passed away. Famous for his work, The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup’s legacy will be long-lasting. My friend Earl carried his book when marrying two of his friends from planning school. This piece from California Planning and Development speaks to his legacy, about how it transcends parking as a practice, and what Shoup meant to people trying to make their cities more livable.
How do we make AVs safer for blind pedestrians?
Researchers at the University of Maryland are working to make autonomous vehicles safer for blind pedestrians, as many companies haven’t prioritized teaching the vehicles about how people with visual impairments move and behave when navigating city streets.
Why is the Cheeto Puff divesting from research about equitable transportation?
Because it’s a good, normal, decent thing to do? This article includes a very depressing list of research projects in the US that were already funded via the Transportation Research Board, and that have since had the carpet pulled out from underneath them. This is essential research to ensuring we can keep people moving—a foundational element of any economy (I can’t believe I have to advocate for the economy here!!!!)—not just that it might benefit some people who aren’t high-income cis white dudes. Did you know that if you design systems that are more accessible for marginalized communities you often make it easier to access for everybody?? *Insert brain implosion meme*
Zoox’s vehicles are safe, but also lagging behind competitors
I’m annoyed by this headline, because I don’t really care if Zoox is slower than its competitors to market if it’s actually prioritizing broader public safety? Can we stop glorifying the high speed chase and start thinking about public good > private profit?
Did you know Tesla is actually an AI company? Dojo is Tesla’s custom-built ~supercomputer~ designed to train its Full Self-Driving (FSD) neural networks. And in case anybody here is new… FSD isn’t actually self-driving. Humans must remain attentive behind the wheel. I digress. TechCrunch has a fun timeline about Dojo, how it came to be, and why it matters.
May Mobility is launching commercial services
In a partnership with Lyft, May Mobility will offer its first fully driverless commercial service in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Previously the business has focused on offering on-demand shuttles and pooled rides within campuses and along uncomplicated routes, so this is a departure for the organisation. I’ve always liked May Mobility for being a company that seems to actually understand the Three Revolutions (see reseach here, and book here).
Chinese automaker BYD promises to make all future models AV capable
BYD is sorta like China’s version of Tesla. An automaker that focuses primarily on EVs and lofty AV promises. Their CEO said that he is “starting an era where autonomous driving is for everyone”. I’m sure everybody reading this can imagine my eye twitching.
The more you know!
Many a group-chat meme about a Waymo that drove through a sinkhole in San Francisco (Road and Track)
Baidu is planning to bring AVs to Dubai (SCMP)
Lyft is working with Marubeni and Mobileye to launch an AV service in Dallas next year (Bloomberg)
Evaluating congestion policies in Milan
“In recent years, two changes to the system [in Milan] have been introduced: (i) restrictions on the vehicle types allowed to enter the zone, and (ii) a 50 percent increase in the congestion charge. This study introduces a novel and replicable approach to evaluate the effectiveness of these policy changes, by studying the ratio of vehicles entering Area C to the total number of unique individuals within it, leveraging mobile phone data on user presence.. The findings indicate that both policy changes influenced individuals’ choice of transportation mode, with vehicle type restrictions having a greater impact than price increases.”
Internships
I am struggle-busing my way to finding internships. Please, if you are hiring interns email me so I can include links here! I feel for young people, half of the links I find require them to apply in December for a summer internship.
[Global offices, Arup] Summer Internships
[Various US offices, Alta] Summer Planning Internships
Full-time employment
[Remote UK, CoMo UK] Consultancy and Research Officer
[London, UK, T&E] Campaign Manager, Clean Cities
[London, UK, Greater London Authority] London Plan Manager (cool?!?!)
[New York City, MTA] Director, Commercial Ventures
I’ve been dogsitting my neighbour’s dog Spike this week. He is a pomeranian-chihuahua mix and named after Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (lol). His favourite thing to do seems to lick my face in my work meetings.
I went to a Bar With Shapes for a Name this week to have fancy cocktails with a colleague in town and it was great. Perfect for the architecture nerd in your life. Bauhaus themed cocktails / interior design of my dreeeeams.
Friends and I saw the new Bridget Jones’ movie last night (for those not aware, it’s perhaps my favourite film franchise? whenever I watch it I can always hear my mom’s laugh from many timezones away). I was not expecting to cry as much as I did?? I am a Crying Person™️, and yet somehow I was still caught off guard. It’s a bit cringe, but I recommend it nonetheless.
Hang in there
I saw this at the bottom of another newsletter I’m subscribed to, and it resonated with me, so I’m sharing with you in hopes that it might resonate with you too.
“We don’t have time to waste on delusion peddlers—not just our 47th president, but anyone who is too sure that they’ve got the exact formula for success, happiness, transcendence, prosperity, anyone too in love with how smart they sound, anyone who doesn’t prioritize the smallest, grandest assignment there is in this life—treating those around them with dignity and tenderness.”
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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