Along for the Ride #268

supporting trans folks, VWs new partnership with Uber, and spike the dog

Heya friends, happy Friday!

It’s been a heavy few weeks in London with the UK Supreme Court ruling that service providers have the legal power to exclude trans women from single-sex spaces (e.g “women only spaces”). It’s enraging and depressing to move backwards in these ways. It targets trans women heavily, leaving trans mens with more flexibility with how they can navigate public places. I’d highly recommend anybody feeling unfamiliar with trans rights to read Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender; it was published last year and examines how ‘gender’ as a concept has become an illusion used by authoritarian regimes, fascist formations and transexclusionary feminists, to demonize innocent individuals leave millions of people vulnerable to subjugation worldwide.

I almost guarantee that wherever you are reading this from, there are trans people who need your support. I’d highly encourage anybody reading this to google for local support groups, and donate your time and money as you’re able to help fight for trans people to have equal rights.

I also realize that my writing here is leaning less weekly-ish and more bi-weekly-ish. I’m navigating what I’m calling a “slightly under-inspired season”, and while I imagine most folks reading this probably don’t care (per se!), I’m sharing that to (I guess) normalize the idea that not every season is going to be my most productive / inspired. I’m giving myself permission to not fight the feeling. It reminds me of the early days of the pandemic when I didn’t write this newsletter for the better part of two months (lol), but I eventually came back to it with more gusto and excitement after. While we don’t have a global epidemic on our hands, global politics today is essentially making me want to squirrel away. Maybe that resonates with you, or maybe not! But if it resonates, I’m telling myself that I’m allowed to slow down, and the same goes for you. I feel uninspired even by the things that typically recharge my batteries, but I also know that at some point the seasons will do their thing, and change is always coming. OK that was me mostly writing to reassure myself (😂), but hoping some of you got something from it too!

OK, time for the news (bullet points because the inspiration is teetering!). I edited this on a train, apologies for any typos, I blame high speed rail (in the best way!!).

• China forbids robotaxi companies from using "autonomous” branding in their ads (TechCrunch)

• How Waymo got approval to operate on Market Street (Mission Local)

• DOGE fires NHTSA staffers responsible for oversight of AV safety (The Verge)

  • And they’ve already rolled back reporting requirements for AV incidents and created exemptions for safety rules……(Reuters)

• Congestion pricing works in small metro areas too (City observatory)

• Duffy, the USDOT’s reality star turned lead gov official, cancelled Amtrak’s involvement in Texas High Speed Rail (Railwayage)

• The impact of removing cars from certain streets in Paris has profound effect on air quality (Washington Post)

• Uber partners with VW to launch thousands of their autonomous microbuses (aka the VW bug) across the US starting in late 2026, so it’ll be another … 16 months until we see this press release come to life lol (TechCrunch)

• Tesla Turmoil

  • How Muck’s robotaxi fantasy is (once again) unraveling (The Verge)

    • The service is going to start with 10-20 vehicles in Austin (in theory) in June (I won’t be holding my breathe!!)

• UK-based Wayve is making moves

  • Nissan will adopt Wayve’s ProPilot program for their vehicles (TechCrunch)

  • Wayve announces new testing centre in Japan (Reuters)

• Waymo

  • How a waymo got trapped in a Chick-fil-A (a complete fluff piece, but we need some levity right?) (TechCrunch)

  • Waymo prepares for testing in Japan to kick-off (The Verge)

  • Waymo accounted for 20% of all Uber trips in Austin in March (GovTech), but they’ve also been met with a slew of complaints (Fox … sorry), including this account of a woman who’s car stopped on an active highway and didn’t let passenger’s leave (Futurism)

  • This one is old news, but here’s a piece about how AVs are used to police urban environments, using Waymo as an example (Gizmodo)

• The Brookings Institute published a white paper on compensation frameworks for when autonomous vehicles are involved in traffic collisions (Brookings Institute)

Internships

• [Beijing, C40] Regional Coordination Intern, China

Full-time positions

• [Copenhagen, Johannesburg, London, New York, Washington DC, C40] Head of Programme Delivery, Laneshift

my sweet Arsenal-loving parents, spike at ze pub, riding the bus, cherry blossom love, and canal snuggles

• My parents recently arrived from Canada and they are already knee deep in Arsenal matches, walking around Highbury, and preparing for many a pub lunch. It’s so nice to have them here, and we are all crossing our fingers and toes for Canada’s upcoming election next week.

• Spike has finally left my care after three weeks of being my emotional support companion. He took many a bus ride (his favourite), came with me to the pub, and even took part in some tarot this weekend (he pulled the eight of cups). He is the definition of a lap dog, and I already miss my pitter-pattering around my flat like he owned the place.

• On the content side of the coin, I’m loving the recent Bon Iver album, getting pumped about a Lorde summer, and enjoying this Maggie Rogers x Slyvan Esso bop for my daily walks. I also finished reading Rejection and it was the most cringe and uncomfortable book I’ve read in a loooong time. I will be taking some time to decompress after 😂

That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.

Sarah

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