Along for the Ride #273
Heya friends, happy Friday!
I debated not writing this week as I’m still in the midst of travel, but decided to anyways. It’s gemini season (the birth season of both of my parents, numerous close friends, and Mrs. Piggy), so I’m feeling inspired. My friend Rosie also illustrated a muni bus shelter this week (iconic for its lil’ worm wave design.. technical term), which is just so beautiful <3. Also, I am watching the Muck vs. Cheeto Puff showdown with popcorn while also contemplating how (as a society) we’ve allowed two of the most emotionally unstable people imaginable gain so much power and are only just now really questioning it as a society.
Opportunities to say hello in person!
My friend Matt Clark and I are hosting a mobility happy hour next week in London. You can register here! Come enjoy a bevvie and some London sunshine.
I will be speaking at Micromobility Europe in Brussels on June 17th, so if you happen to be passing through town and want to say hi, please reach out! If you want to attend, you can register here, and use the code 25PERCENT for 25% off your ticket.
Call to action!
I have been approached by a few bright researchers studying transportation planning at UCL looking to interview me about autonomous vehicles and it’s implications on planning. However, I wanted to reach out to this wonderful hive mind to see if there are people whose work intersects with autonomous vehicle policy in either the public or private sectors. If you’d be interested in helping to shape research and meet with some bright minds, please let me know and I can connect you!
Monitoring public transport from Melbourne to Hong Kong and Dubai
This article by the Guardian deep dives on Ravi Ravitharan, Director of the Institute of Railway Technology at Monash University in Melbourne and the technology developed by the Institute. Ravitharan’s team has built sensors to detect the slightest changes in “bounce, vibration or jerk of a carriage” and are able to identify when a more serious issue is going to impact service. This is my kinda transportation technology.
USDOT’s Transportation Research Board (TRB) dissolves committees
This one is very wonky and specific to America, but the longer gist is that TRB—a federally funded research program—has long been a bright beacon of transportation research globally. It is composed of numerous committees (I’m talking >200), each focused on a particular mode or subject area such as travel behaviour of specific genders, etc. While not unexpected under the current political regime, dissolving TRB raises a major concern as the organization brought researchers from around the world to discuss how new learnings can be implemented to help make our cities work better for more people. It’s hard to imagine what will fill the void left by these TRB committees, and the long term impacts this will have on transportation research going forward.
A short history of transportation electrification
This article covers the history of modern day transportation as we know it. What I like most is that is covers multiple modes, just just the automobile which most articles about electrification tend to hyper focus on. It looks at private vehicles alongside trains, buses, bikes and scooters. It also takes a global view, which is not always the case!!
EU considers weaker AV policy to appease Trump
Filed under: my own personal end times vibes. The intro paragraph to this piece really says it all: “Brussels is offering to water down its tough rules on autonomous cars and adopt looser U.S. regulations in its latest effort to get the Trump administration to retreat on the tariffs it slapped on imported cars and car parts.” Womp womp womp.
As Tesla gears up to (maybe) launch their robotaxi service in Austin this month the world is watching and waiting for the billion dollar transportation company to kick shins on the first hurdle they encounter. Bloomberg has a piece about how Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Mode continues to cause collisions even with driver’s behind a wheel, and questions how anybody can feel safe behind the wheel when Tesla’s track record so far has been full of blood.
Muck’s long-game lobbying efforts
We all know this is why he made friends with the Cheeto Puff right? Let’s see is Muck still gets what he wants after naming Trump in the Epstein case……. Anyways….. We are in an era where tech billionaires (not just Muck) are swaying public policy and legislation in favour of their company’s bottom line. Muck needs regulations to change so he has any hope on delivering his lofty goals that thus far have only manifest as smoke, mirrors, and serious road collisions.
Waymo’s driving approach becoming more and more human
In my short time back in San Francisco I have seen Waymos drive through the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane on Van Ness, continue through intersections while I was in them or biking through them, and mirror the delightful rolling stop (aka not stopping) at stop signs too many times to count. Friends regularly chime up in group chats about how Waymos driving is becoming more and more aggressive, mimicking the human drivers they are in theory trying to best. This article discusses how many in SF are experiencing the same, and raising concerns.
“In California, the most recent batch of quarterly data reported by the company was the most encouraging yet. It showed that Waymo’s number of paid rides inched higher by roughly 2% in both January and February—and then increased 27% in March. In the nearly two years that people in San Francisco have been paying for robot chauffeurs, it was the first time that Waymo’s growth slowed down for several months only to dramatically speed up again.”
It’s interesting that this article frames success as more rides in an autonomous vehicle. The “encouraging” measurement presented initially here is rides (and thus revenue). At some point we need to talk about autonomous vehicles simply being cars. People can claim that they are “better cars”, but at the end of the day a spade is a spade. An EV is only as clean as the electrical grid it sources power from. The data processing and storage needed to compute every microscopic decision involved with navigating a city is not insignificant! Traffic is traffic, and AVs are traffic just like every other vehicle.
We need to think about if these innovations are actually going to help cities be better places to live. That if the $30 billion spent by Waymo thus far is going to reap better results than if we’d invested that money in much needed public transportation infrastructure.
Waymo’s irritating back-up noise makes headlines
A few summer’s back I was spending the summer with friends in Sardinia (this sounds more lush than it was), and the car we rented on the island made the funniest back-up noise and still to this day when I’m in a car and it backs up I make this ridiculous sound trying to replicate that noise.
Anyways, all this to say that back-up sounds are irritating because they are designed to draw your attention to them.. especially when there isn’t a human force behind the wheel who can demonstrate via a wave or eye contact that they are in fact aware of your presence. Of all the questionable aspects of AVs, I think having a loud beep should be the least of our worries.
How does planning research influence urban policy?
“A foundational aim of planning research is to influence practice, including through new policy, legislative reforms, rule or code changes, new plan-making, organisational or procedural reforms, or other kinds of institutional change. For researchers dedicated to creating new knowledge, translating their findings into decisions in practice can be a frustrating challenge.”
Full-time
[London, UK - Greater London Authority] Head of Public Affairs and Strategic Partnerships
[London, UK - Greater London Authority] Senior Policy Adviser (London Plan), London Assembly
[North America - NACTO] Many jobs on the job board!
Content wise, I am currently reading the Ministry of Time, which has been delightful (with fun plot arcs that involve bicycles), and also forced my friends who hadn’t seen Bottoms to watch it because it. is. so. funny. It is unhinged and at times graphic, so if you if are a bit queasy I would maybe steer clear.
I’m in San Francisco this week before a bachelorette weekend (my first ever), and am spending the week reading in cafes, taking long bops throughout the city, and catching up with friends, while also being confronted with how many good humans are here and realizing there are not enough hours / minutes in the week to see them all.
My weekend included an abundance of sweetness. I got to attend my friend Hansel’s celebration of life where we placed a plaque on new seating structures at Sunset Dunes park. I hope if you ever find yourself in San Francisco, you’ll make your way to Ocean Beach and Pacheco and think of Hansel. On Sunday, I got to help a friend get engaged in Golden Gate Park, and was overwhelmed by how nice it is to have so much love contained in such a compact lil city.
I feel spoiled by the goodness of the people in San Francisco, and already miss running into people while just being out and about. It's the closest city that’s made me feel like I live in Mr. Roger’s neighbourhood.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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