Automakers are pushing federal regulators to let them deploy thousands of autonomous vehicles with no backup drivers on public streets, and the National Association of City Transportation Officials is pushing back (Streetsblog). AVs need to be regulated appropriately to reach their full potential without reinforcing and compounding the problems of car dependency, according to experts like the Urban Institute’s Yonah Freemark (Government Technology).
“Range anxiety” is a joke in the U.S., where most trips are less than 30 miles, but most drivers won’t settle for less than 300 miles of range from an electric vehicle. (Bloomberg)
E-scooter trips increase when the weather is hot, but not when it rains. (The Conversation)
Delivery robots could help keep cars off the road, but they face the same challenge as humans — janky sidewalks. (Streetsblog)
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit and Uber are offering Tampa Bay residents free rides as authorities urge evacuating in the wake of Hurricane Ian. (WTSP)
As Wisconsin cities seek to redesign streets to make them safer, the state DOT stands in the way. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
There is still hope for Bay Area transit, despite its anxiety-inducing mess of 27 different transit agencies. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Cincinnati residents are pressuring the city on Vision Zero after a particularly dangerous summer. (Soapbox Media)
The Birmingham XPress, its first bus rapid transit line, launched service last week. (Alabama News Network)
The Houston Metro is considering whether some of its park-and-ride lots could be converted to retail space where transit riders are the customers. (Houston Chronicle)
A $100-a-month D.C. Metro subsidy for Washington residents has cleared a key committee. (DCist)
Washington, D.C.’s last remaining streetcar trestle that could become a walking and biking trail has won a reprieve. (Post)
