Editorial. 3 Reasons to Slow Down on Self Driving Car Laws

Detroit. Motor City. An editorial board at the Detroit News isn’t keen on rapidly legislating self driving cars because:

  • Market Drivers.to develop the right policies we need clear signals from the market about what aspects of self driving cars will win the day
  • Infrastructure Needs. need to ensure that the legislature creates the infrastructure to maintain Dedicated Short Range Communications radios that communicate between self driving cars and the infrastructure
  • Public Private…

Executive Branch Trend. Engage Private Business. Give them State Data. Get Transportation Improvements in Return.

The State: Virginia

The goal of the public-private partnership:  “optimizing opportunities for innovative collaboration and investment in Virginia’s transportation system”

The data shared with the private sector: 22 different data sets, with initial data sets including traffic volumes, speed limits, travel advisories, lane closures, crashes, truck restrictions, traffic sensors, incidents, sign messages and locations, paving schedules, short- and long-term weather events, the Six-Year…

Business Trend Begets Local Trend. Integrated Roadways. 3 Bits informed:intel

The Business: Integrated Roadways

What are integrated roadways? Roads with sensors, phone, and internet connectivity, telecommunications, fiber-optic cable, and high-speed Internet, as well as other hardware, inside road surfaces.

What do local pilot projects look like? Kansas City has a pilot project to use integrated roads in construction of a combined 1.5 miles of pavement in the spring of 2018 with expected completion by August.

Would these integrated roads collect data for the benefit…

Lege Trend becomes Local Trend. Wheel Taxes. Will city folk do wheelies to celebrate?

Baraboo Wisconsin is considering implementing a “wheel tax” to fund transportation.
 
What sparked Baraboo’s brouhaha? Baraboo needs transportation funding
 
Did cities in Wisconsin need state approval? Yes, a statewide bill requires a citywide vote. 
 
In Wisconsin, wheel taxes account for 20-25% of street rehabilitation funding.
 

Legal Trend. Judge Requires Disclosure of lawmakers & lobbyist communication on direct sales.

Michigan’s direct sales ban is being tested in Michigan federal court as a violation of the Commerce Clause.

What does that mean in normal people terms? The direct sales ban isn’t just a question of is direct sales a Michigan law and constitution problem, but does direct sales bans run counter to the US Constitution. Also, the Supremes can get involved- as in Ruth Bader Ginsburg et. al, not Diana Ross et. al.

What documents is the court requiring be disclosed?

  • 2 lawmakers must turn over…

NEW KIDS. New Appointees to Port Authority Advisory Committee.

Lt. Gov. Patrick made the following appointments to the Port Authority  Advisory Committee:

  •  Michael J. Plank
    • From Houston
    • Chairman & CEO of The Plank Companies, Inc., a diversified holding company
    • Serves on the boards of Greater Houston Partnership, YMCA of Greater Houston & President’s Leadership Council at Methodist Hospital
    • 1983 Texas A&M grad in Mechanical Engineering

LT. GOVERNOR DAN PATRICK ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT TO THE PORT AUTHORITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

5 Ways Texas Central Rail will be one of the largest civil infrastructure projects in U.S. History

The privately financed high speed rail project between Houston and Dallas by Texas Central Rail will be one of the largest civil projects in history and will create:

  • 10,000 construction jobs during each year of construction
  • $10-billion in direct investment
  • $36 billion in economic benefits over 25 years
  • $2.5 billion in tax revenue
  • 25% of the permanent jobs will be in rural Texas

Equipment World | Fluor, Lane contracted for privately-funded Texas bullet train, one of the largest civil…

No Regulation TREND. 5 Reasons Self Driving Cars Thriving in Hot Weather & No Regulation. A Win for Anarchy.

Self Driving Car Companies are flooding the rain free Arizona desert, here’s why:

  • The rain free, sunny weather, is ideal for self driving car vehicle sensors
  • Arizona has no self driving car regulations
  • Arizona has calm traffic
  • Arizona has “pretty good” roads
  • The one government act on self-driving cars in Arizona is that “Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order in 2015 requiring his underlings to “undertake any necessary steps to support the testing and operation of self-driving…

TREND. +1 Way Local Governments are Utilizing Ride Share for Services.

Boston instituted a pilot program for ride share to help with paratransit that subsidizes rides on Uber and Lyft.

What business traits do paratransit need:

  • well-trained drivers
  • smart dispatch
  • flexibility: multiple stops & a wide range of physical limitations

Philly.com | Should Philly follow Boston and remake paratransit with ride hailing?