Transportation news, curated through an EECS lense. Special interest and emphasis on autonomous vehicles, scalable solutions, cost-efficient transit (e.g. busses), innovations in infrastructure, security, IU/UX, and insights into the behavioral/legal/ethical aspects.
What I Learned Riding One of Those New Private City Buses – CityLab 2014-08-04 The Cambridge-based startup, part of a new field of private buses popping up in major metros, promises to shake up city transit by relying on big data to plan routes and on luxury shuttles to move riders. That buzzword-filled elevator pitch seems tailored to get both investors and car-free Millennials excited about riding the bus. via What I ...
Take a Wild Ride on Kenya’s Minibuses – Video – NYTimes.com 2014-07-18 Jeffrey Gettleman rides on the unregulated minibuses that are fighting a move toward electronic payments. via Take a Wild Ride on Kenya’s Minibuses – Video – NYTimes.com. Cash only! Rolling out technology to the masses is hard.
This Guy Changed Urban Transportation Forever For About $20 2014-07-10 Pallet © Tomáš Moravec, 2008 from Tomáš Moravec on Vimeo. A brand new standardized Euro-pallet costs $13. Add wheels, and you just won at everything. via This Guy Changed Urban Transportation Forever For About $20. HT Charles
This Really Might Be the Nicest Bike-Share System in the United States – CityLab 2014-07-01 We keep innovating. We’re just a scrappy organization. The leaders of the organization are cleaning the bathrooms and setting strategy. via This Really Might Be the Nicest Bike-Share System in the United States – CityLab. Woohoo, go Minnesota!
Google’s prototype electric self-driving car seats two, has no steering wheel | Ars Technica 2014-05-28 The prototype Google revealed differs from the Priuses and Lexuses in that they can’t let humans take over the job of piloting; they are completely controlled by the onboard computer. In addition to lacking a steering wheel, the Google-built car also has no accelerator, no brake, no mirrors, no glove compartment, and no soundsystem your ...
How Disney Imagined the American Highway of the Future, 50 Years Ago – Jenny Xie – The Atlantic Cities 2014-05-15 This vintage clip, part of the "Magic Highway, U.S.A." episode of the1950s TV series Disneyland, predicts how transportation — particular anything related to the highway — will evolve in America. via How Disney Imagined the American Highway of the Future, 50 Years Ago – Jenny Xie – The Atlantic Cities. This is amazing!
Will a World of Driverless Cars Be Heaven or Hell? – Robin Chase – The Atlantic Cities 2014-05-04 Autonomous cars will be part of our reality faster than most people realize. While manufacturers have a four-phase plan to bring about the fully autonomous car within the next two decades, Google promises to have them ready as early as 2017, just three years distant. My guess is that Google’s could be the "heaven" vision. In ...
Image credit: Neil Kremer