CoMotion LA ‘23 is just two weeks away! This year’s program features an All Star lineup of mobility leaders and thinkers, as well as a front row seat to cutting-edge technology. Register to attend now!
Cruise, GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary, is encountering some pretty serious headwinds. The suspension of its permit to operate in California, followed by the company’s temporary halt to all deployments across the U.S. is a setback for the company and perhaps the wider AV industry. For the time being, however, Waymo is still operating its robotaxis and just scored a new partnership with Uber in the Phoenix area. While the debate rages over if and when fully autonomous vehicles will be viable on a mass scale, what’s undeniable is that we are already in the midst of a “driver-ish” revolution, where robots are doing more and more for us.
Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers have come to tentative agreements with all Big Three automakers, Uber is getting challenged by a bike taxi company in India and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declares war on “anti-car measures.” What would he think of Boulder’s art-adorned “tall curbs” to protect bikers or Portland’s fabulously successful new express bus route?
A bruise for Cruise: It was a disastrous week for Cruise, GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary. On Tuesday the California DMV abruptly revoked the company’s permit to operate and test driverless vehicles in the state only two months after state regulators allowed it and Waymo to launch 24/7 commercial robotaxi operation in San Francisco. The agency said the decision was partially due to Cruise withholding video of a crash in which a Cruise vehicle dragged a pedestrian for 20 feet. On Thursday, Cruise voluntarily halted its driverless operations in other cities around the country: Houston, Dallas, Austin, Miami and Phoenix.
This is obviously a major setback for Cruise, but it’s not yet clear what the implications are for other driverless operations. It could make elected officials, regulators and the general public more reluctant to welcome robotaxis to their communities. Granted, Alphabet-backed Waymo is still operating its robotaxis in San Francisco and Phoenix and has encountered far fewer issues than Cruise.
…meanwhile, Uber bets on Waymo: Uber customers in the Phoenix area will now be able to get a driverless ride, courtesy of Uber’s partnership with Waymo, the Alphabet-backed firm that has been operating autonomous vehicles in the area for years. Waymo, which also has a robotaxi fleet in San Francisco, has encountered far fewer issues –– at least publicly –– than Cruise.
The end of the auto strike may be near: The United Auto Workers have come to a tentative agreement with all three Big Three automakers that UAW leadership and industry observers describe as a major victory for the union after six weeks of strikes. Ford, Stellantis and finally GM have all agreed to increase pay by 25% over four years and restore cost-of-living adjustments that will raise wages further. GM’s deal came several days after the union expanded its strike at the company, calling workers off the job at a GM plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., its largest in North America.
Although compensation was the main focus of the strikes, the union has also made demands aimed at shaping the strategic direction of the automakers. The Stellantis contract, for instance, includes a commitment to major new plant investments that the union says will create 5,000 new jobs. The automaker had initially proposed cutting roughly that many positions.
…meanwhile, Ford taps brakes on EV spending: Ford is postponing $12 billion in planned investments in EVs, including a second battery plant with Korean manufacturer SK On, due to weakening demand for premium EVs. Ford CFO John Lawler says consumers aren’t willing to pay a premium for EVs compared to gas or hybrid vehicles, causing pressure on profits. As a result, the automaker will shift its focus to reducing the cost of its EVs, rather than adding new features.
Sunak backs the drivers: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is taking aim at “anti-car measures,” announcing plans to reverse policies implemented by local governments aimed at reducing car speed and prioritizing walking, cycling and transit. He cites 20 mph speed limits, dedicated bus lanes and what he views as overzealous enforcement of driving infractions. While there’s always a certain amount of tension between different transportation modes, critics of Sunak suggest the new PM is playing into conspiracy theories about ‘15 minute cities,’ that have caught fire on the British right.
Uber gets a new competitor in India: Rapido, an Indian startup that for eight years operated bike and rickshaw taxis, will begin offering rides in cars in major Indian cities. The dominant ride-hail services in India are Uber and Ola, but Rapido hopes that its variety of mode offerings will provide a certain stickiness that allows it to claw some market share from its much larger rivals.
Portland’s success with bus rapid transit ‘light’: TriMet, the regional transit agency that serves Portland, Ore., announces that ridership on a key bus route has increased 40% since a number of changes were implemented a year ago to increase reliability and frequency. The “express” service included fewer stops, 12-minute headways, articulated buses, signal prioritization and long stretches of dedicated bus lanes. It’s not quite true bus rapid transit –– which would include dedicated transit lanes for the entire route –– but it’s clearly a big improvement over standard bus service.
Why won’t trucking companies hire women? As many truckers fear their future replacement by autonomous vehicles, women find they can’t get jobs in the industry now. Fewer than 5% of truck drivers in the U.S. are women. Part of the reason appears to be that many companies have policies that require women drivers to be trained by other women. Of course, many of these companies don’t have any female employees available to oversee women trainees.
Cyclists take over Arroyo Seco Freeway: For the second time, the annual ArroyoFest shuts down Los Angeles’s infamous 110 freeway to vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to take over the 7-mile stretch of highway for a day. The founder of ArroyoFest says that the point is not only to raise awareness of the potential for better pedestrian and bike infrastructure, but to allow people to reconnect with a stretch of road that was originally envisioned as a scenic “greenway” with a relatively low speed limit of 45 mph.
Boulder’s artsy bike lanes: The Colorado college town claims it is the first U.S. city to use “tall curbs” to separate cyclists from auto traffic. Some of the curbs will be decorated with local art.
A look at CoMotion LA ‘23 with CEO John Rossant: CoMotion Founder & CEO John Rossant talks with VerdeXchange about the origins of CoMotion and its evolution in the eight years since its founding, as well as the big trends in mobility, from remote work to public-private partnerships and micromobility.
The driverless future is hiding in plain sight: In the Atlantic, Caroline Mimbs Nye argues that the near future will not be characterized by “driverless” vehicles as much as by “driver-ish” ones. Car owners will increasingly lean on autonomous technology as part of their driving experience, but it will likely be many years before we are willing to hand over the keys entirely.
Cruise debacle highlights fragmented AV oversight: Washington Post tech reporter Trisha Thadani highlights the patchwork of regulations and regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing the deployment of Cruise’s robotaxi operation. Among other things, the article reveals there is no mechanism to ensure that companies are submitting footage of their crashes to regulators, as required.
E-bikes in Amish country: The Amish scorn phones, computers and cars, but they’re falling in love with e-bikes. People in rural Amish communities are now increasingly opting for e-bikes over horses and buggies –– at least in the communities that have decided to allow them. Although the Amish are often perceived as impulsively opposing all new technology, each community decides whether to embrace a given tool based on whether they perceive it as a threat to community cohesion. So apparently in this case they’ve decided that e-bikes can help strengthen community bonds. We agree!
The amazing, infuriating history of the electric car: Did you know that a larger proportion of cars were electric in 1900 than now? The Guardian documents (with photos) the promising beginning for EVs as well as their near-complete disappearance for the next 100 years.
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