Brought to You by the Letter P for Pittsburgh and Perth

Way, way, way too busy with autonomous vehicle (AV) work on top of actual work and actual life. So here is what I see as important news this week. I am not covering the Uber/Waymo settlement. It's everywhere, easy to find, and the professional reading equivalent of the last episode of the season of a guilty-pleasure TV drama. Oh my, though, right?

City of bridges and AVs

I just went to Pittsburgh, in the worst weather possible, and found an entire transportation community knowledgable about AVs and robotics. I am talking people working in programs for older adults, people with disabilities, and healthcare transportation - not staff from startups or Uber.

[From TheIncline]

This morning, I found a great article in my feed from TheIncline, which is closely monitoring the bubbling, active AV testing going on downtown and elsewhere in Pittsburgh. Truly amazing as well because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is quite enthusiastic about AVs, so there is none of the usual state/city friction that one sees in many other states.

I hope to have the time to return to state legislative developments, and there are some in Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon University has really solidified itself as a center for AV and robotics technology and has almost single-handedly launched Pittsburgh into a major contender.

For right now, it's ridehailing giant Uber providing rides. There is no AV shuttle - yet, but there is plenty of planning.

Down under city starting with P

Perth is also in the forefront and an old hat in the AV transit bus world. It has had an AV bus since 2016, practically the middle ages in terms of AV pilots. The AV bus is open to the public and the city will be hosting a launch of AV ridehailing this year, otherwise called on-demand. Navya will be the partner for that project, which will use cars.

I'm including the link because I keep getting redirected to a subscription page. Here is the link: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/perth-residents-embrace-driverless-vehicle-technology/news-story/6f0a3b8288db6e791bba316477906f8c.

Cross-country in a truck

Embark can boast a successful demonstration with a coast-to-coast US truck trip with its AV truck. Do not get too excited because there was a driver and that person did take over a few times. The trip was from LA to Florida. Quietly, Embark is accomplishing quite a bit with frequent LA to El Paso trips. Now there's a beach destination.