InfoHive – Transportation

The talk about how do jurisdictions issue traffic violations to a driverless robotaxis continues.  We started talking about this when San Francisco was grappling with a robotaxi defying the rules of the road. 

California Department of Motor Vehicles is seeking comment on newly proposed driverless vehicle rules that cover how to enforce traffic laws when there is no driver. The proposals include “Notice of Autonomous Vehicle Noncompliance,” requires the manufacturer (meaning the robotaxi company) to report the violation to the DMV within 72 hours of receiving it from law enforcement. ”

Tech Crunch | TechCrunch Mobility: How do you issue a ticket to a robotaxi?

“Oregonians will soon be able to sue private companies that sell or otherwise improperly use data captured by license plate-reading cameras under a new state law. “ Senate Bill 1516

Oregon Capital Chronicle | A new Oregon law regulates police use of license plate readers. Here’s how it works

The FAA has announced that it will begin imposing fees on rocket launches. The FAA fee will fund the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). The fee will begin in 2026, be based on payload, starting at $0.25 per pound and will increase incrementally. 

My apologies for including the word assetmaxxing from the source material. This trend of adding “maxxing” to the end of words is as nonsensical as it is a hellish grammar situation.

Tech Crunch wants us to know that Uber is assetmaxxing with its “numerous investments ($7.5 billion) and deals with autonomous vehicle companies across drones, robotaxis, and freight. Some of its investments include WeRide, Lucid and Nuro, Rivian, and Wayve. 

The future will be filled with autonomous vehicle pods that move on 2 meter wide lanes. Glydways, a San Francisco-based startup developing personal autonomous pods has garnered series 2 funding at $170 million.

Glydways says it can “move up to 10,000 people per hour, per lane and reduce infrastructure costs by up to 90% compared to rail. ”

Tech Crunch | This Khosla-backed autonomous pod startup just raised $170M — now it’s aiming for more

Maria Tamayo-Soto, parking services manager for Las Vegas says, “Human oversight prevents errors and ensures each citation is accurate and defensible. Human review should be treated as a core feature rather than a safeguard for AI limitations. It is fundamental to legal, public and operational defensibility.”

Even parking enforcement needs a human’s discernment. 

Route Fifty | Human review, responsibility should be the ‘core feature’ of AI solutions, official says

Sweden launched the world’s 1st hydrogen powered cargo ship. The ship has zero emissions. @engineering_facts

Cement plants run on fossil fuels. Meet the new kid, NOC Energy, which has a copper coil heating mechanism that can attach to existing fossil fuel heating systems at cement plants to produce cement from a hybrid energy source.

Tech Crunch | You’ve heard of hybrid cars. Now meet a hybrid cement plant.

At least 51 jurisdictions impose a tax or fee on ride share. Philadelphia’s mayor recently proposed a $1 fee on ride share with the revenue dedicated to public schools.

In 2025 Pennsylvania proposed a ride share fee, which was not opposed by ride share companies in exchange for driver classification codification.

Governing | Ride-Hailing Is Everywhere. State and Local Taxes Are Still Evolving

Robotaxis are tracking pothole data. Data that can be used to repair potholes. Cities are not currently recipients of the data. Work smarter, not harder.

Tech Crunch | Waymo robotaxis are tracking potholes and sharing that data with Waze users