Do driverless cars make good spies?
(4min read) Also, what can the redesign of one of LA's most famous event venues tell us about the '28 Olympics?
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It was another big week for AV news. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes a bill that would have imposed a variety of new regulations on AVs. Uber expands its driverless offerings, announcing a partnership with Chinese robotaxi firm WeRide in Abu Dhabi. Plus, what to make of Waymo’s safety data and the prospect of AVs as foreign spies?
There is some hopeful news for the hydrogen faithful: a startup says it has a new way of transporting hydrogen that will make it a more attractive fuel and BMW says fuel cells –– not just EVs –– are key to a zero-emissions future.
Finally, a lot of good news for urbanists: cargo bikes are booming in London, bikeshare is soaring in D.C., bike lanes are proving their worth, a New York suburb is turning a highway that divided a Black neighborhood into a park and boulevard that will hopefully reconnect it, and an iconic Los Angeles music venue finds that reducing parking spaces can actually make it easier for people to get there!
What you need to know
Newsom vetoes AV regulations: In the same week that California Gov. Gavin Newsom sided with industry in blocking a bill that would have put in place strict new regs on artificial intelligence, he also vetoes two bills that imposed new regulations on autonomous vehicles. It is the second time he has vetoed a bill supported by the Teamsters that would have required a human on board any driverless truck. The other doomed bill would have subjected AV companies to new data reporting requirements. Newsom said the new requirements would impose an infeasible timeline on the state Department of Motor Vehicles. However, he did sign another bill that will require robotaxi firms to set up a hotline for the police to call if an AV is interfering with a crime scene or emergency response.
Uber gets another robotaxi partner: Customers in Abu Dhabi will soon be able to hail autonomous rides through the Uber app. The AVs are operated by Chinese driverless company WeRide. This news comes shortly after Uber announced that it is partnering with Waymo to offer robotaxi rides in Austin and Atlanta starting early next year.
BMW says hydrogen is key: As BMW teams up with Toyota to develop hydrogen fuel vehicles, an official at the German automaker tells TechCrunch the technology is a key part of doing away with gas-fueled cars. Juergen Guldner, who leads hydrogen projects for BMW, says that some people simply don’t want to charge up their vehicles like a phone. The appeal of hydrogen is that it offers the ability to fuel up cars just like you do with gas. The problem, of course, is that the fueling infrastructure is nowhere near where it needs to be.
Cargo bikes skyrocket in London: Traffic cameras in London show that cargo bikes increased by 63% last year.
A game-changer for hydrogen transport? One of the big challenges for hydrogen is that it’s hard to transport because it leaks very easily. One solution is to store hydrogen by attaching it to another molecule that is easier to transport, but that typically requires a lot of heat and pressure. A new startup, Ayrton Energy, claims to have developed a mysterious oil –– they won’t say what exactly –– that can store hydrogen at room temperature and normal pressure levels. Co-Founder, Natasha Kostenuk says the process is similar to how margarine is made from vegetable oils.
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Bikeshare booming in D.C.: Capital Bikeshare has its fourth consecutive month of record use and ridership is up 32% from 2023. The service is jointly owned and funded by a handful of local governments in the Washington D.C. area but is operated by New York-based company Motivate.
…especially in bike lanes: Lime, one of numerous micromobility services in D.C. that have seen use skyrocket, reports that the increase has been far more pronounced on streets that have put in place protected bike lanes.
U.S. DOT demands answers for safety: Citing a major increase in attacks against transit workers over the past decade, the Federal Transit Administration directs local transit agencies to conduct a “risk assessment” for vehicles and stations. The more than 700 agencies will also be required to explain what steps they are taking to reduce violence.
Undoing historic highway injustices: The city of New Rochelle, N.Y. is using $16 million in funds from the federal Reconnecting Communities program to transform a six-lane highway into an urban boulevard and linear park. Like many other urban highways, the New England Thruway came at the expense of a large swath of a Black neighborhood when it was built in 1958.
What we’re reading
The Hollywood Bowl’s lessons for the Olympics: In a guest essay for CoMotion News, Joshua Schank, a partner at InfraStrategies and a senior fellow at the UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies, describes how the Hollywood Bowl made it easier for customers to get to and from the stadium despite reducing parking. Among other things, simply communicating with customers about the parking limitations got more people to opt for other modes of transportation.
AVs as espionage tools: Sebastien Seibt, who writes about global conflicts for France 24, examines the mounting fear in the U.S. of connected vehicles being used as tools of espionage by foreign governments, particularly China. The bottom line from the experts he spoke with: the concern is hardly baseless paranoia.
The good news & bad news about Waymo’s data: Phil Koopman, author of How Safe is Enough? Measuring and Predicting Autonomous Vehicle Safety, offers his take on Waymo’s new safety data dashboard. It’s good to see the company make its data public, writes Koopman, but the way it is describing the data to the press ranges from “a distraction to outright propaganda.”
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