Autonomous Vehicle Transit Pilot in Rural Minnesota to Expand with $9.3M Federal Grant

Posted on June 21, 2023June 28, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Andy Castillo, American City & County

Ten months into its 18-month-long pilot initiative, an autonomous vehicle transit program in rural Minnesota, goMARTI (Minnesota’s Autonomous Rural Transit Initiative), has received a $9.3 million federal technology grant to expand into Grand Rapids, Minn.

Since launching with a fleet of five self-driving vehicles in September (three of which have ADA-compliant wheelchair ramps), goMARTI has provided on-demand service to about 70 pick-up and drop-off points in a 16.5 square-mile area. The expansion will add community-requested stops to the east and south of the current area, including Minnesota North College Itasca, Second Harvest North Central Food Bank and Walmart.

“Connecting residents with these rural community destinations will allow for equitable access to critical services in the region through a convenient and reliable shared mobility option. We are excited about continuing the state’s interagency collaboration between the Iron Range and MnDOT in the state’s transition to shared, electric and automated transportation,” said Ida Rukavina, commissioner of Minnessota’s Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation board in a statement. With the federal Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation Program grant and additional “EV infrastructure planning underway, northeastern Minnesota is well positioned to help create a better future for rural transportation.”

Along with the added stops, administrators are planning to use the funding to add another autonomous vehicle to the fleet along with three fully electric, non-autonomous vehicles that will serve the Grand Rapids area and the nearby communities of Cohasset and La Prairie, Minn.

While initially launched to help people in rural Minnessota get to and from jobs, medical and other appointments, the expansion will reach a new population.

“Expanding goMARTI to Minnesota North College Itasca is a big win for our current and prospective students,” said Dr. Michael Raich, president of Minnesota North College in the statement. “Reliable transportation is a barrier for many people, and this free and convenient shuttle option will make college much more accessible to those who don’t live on or near campus. This project also presents an opportunity for our college to prepare our future workforce by exposing students to emerging technologies and careers in the transportation industry.”

The grant will also be used to integrate goMARTI into the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) trip planning platform, the Transit App, which is currently being used in southern Minnesota. Funding will also support continued research from the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies and workforce development efforts with Minnesota North College. Minnesota North College will be developing curriculum to leverage the project creating student experience opportunities, new curriculum opportunities and career pathways in new technology.

Phoenix is Emerging as the City of the Future

Posted on June 21, 2023June 28, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Jessica Boehm, Axios

Phoenix is having a moment.

Recent major investments in computer chip manufacturing and electric and autonomous vehicles have made it the overnight darling of the U.S. innovation elite.

Why it matters: The broad attention is showing the world what local leaders have spent the past half-century trying to prove: This desert city can be a major player in global tech and manufacturing.

State of play: Arizona has attracted more semiconductor investment since 2020 than any other U.S. state — driven mainly by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s $40 billion facilities in north Phoenix.

Semiconductors are used in just about every electronic device — including electric and autonomous cars, fields in which Phoenix is also thriving.

Waymo has been testing its self-driving vehicles in metro Phoenix since 2017.

It recently doubled its local ride-hailing service area to cover 180 square miles, the largest fully autonomous service area in the world.
Five EV manufacturers have set up shop in Arizona since 2016, per the Arizona Commerce Authority.

How it happened: Government and business leaders pledged to diversify Phoenix’s construction-based economy after it collapsed during the 2008 housing crash.

They formed the Arizona Commerce Authority, offered incentives and relaxed regulations to lure new companies.

Yes, but: Those moves were built on the back of decades of groundwork, strategic investments — and maybe some dumb luck too.

Flashback: Metro Phoenix was home to several U.S. Air Force and Navy training bases during World War II, which made it a natural fit for post-war military manufacturing.

Motorola arrived in 1949, becoming the area’s first semiconductor facility.
Intel followed, opening its first fabrication plant in the area in 1980.
They attracted chemical suppliers, engineering outfits and other skilled manufacturing companies to metro Phoenix.

Meanwhile: The area has invited auto companies to test their products here for decades.

General Motors, Goodyear, Ford, Chrysler and others established proving grounds on the outskirts of town in the 1940s and 1950s.
Many still exist and are now used to test electric and autonomous vehicles.

What’s next: Homegrown innovation.

Intel has been around long enough to see some of its engineers leave and start their own ventures. For example: Footprint, a Gilbert, Arizona-based company designing alternatives to plastic food packaging.
Venture capitalists are finally taking the city’s startup scene seriously. In 2015, Arizona companies secured $396 million in VC money, per PitchBook. By 2018, that number had ballooned to $2.5 billion — though investments have slowed since.

Reality check: How far Phoenix’s national star rises depends on the city confronting some daunting challenges.

It’s facing big city problems like housing affordability for the first time — plus the increasingly dire challenge of water security.

Hudson Valley CC Plans $85M Applied Tech Education Center

Posted on June 15, 2023June 21, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Michael Gwizdala, The Record

Realizing the potential of the “invisible workforce.” That goal was top of mind as educators, students, community and business leaders, and elected officials gathered at Hudson Valley Community College’s Cogan Hall Automotive Lab, Wednesday morning. They gathered to unveil plans for an Applied Technology Education Center (ATEC) on HVCC’s Troy campus.

The proposed $85 million, 130,000-square-foot facility will look to train graduates for the “new economy.” ATEC will provide credit and non-credit offerings, preparing new and returning learners for in-demand careers with long and short-term programs. Students will be trained in career industries including but not limited to automotive and transportation technologies, offshore wind, HVAC, welding, and semiconductor manufacturing. ATEC’s increased capacity will have the potential to add 15,000 technicians to New York’s workforce by 2035.

HVCC President Dr. Roger Ramsammy remarked on the need to create skilled workers to match the needs of approximately 17 million vacant skill trade and applied-related jobs.

“Just in our region, we are experiencing unprecedented demands for electricians, electrical engineers, HVAC, mechatronics technicians, semiconductor manufacturing technicians, welders, welding fabricators, electric and autonomous vehicle technicians, and more!” Ramsammy exclaimed.

“We know because that’s our business here at the college and we have to interact with our community, who comes to us begging us to provide that workforce,” Ramsammy continued.

He noted the preparations the college has taken to realize this vision of creating a future workforce, back in 2018.

“We’ve put together what was needed to be in that building. We began establishing the groundwork for what’s going to be in this building by targeting the invisible workforce. We began by building a high school on our campus because we knew that we had to reach deep to our middle school students and get them into our high schools with a mindset,” Ramsammy explained.

Unlike some other four-year institutions, Ramsammy noted the importance of investing in students who will stay and work here in our communities for the local economy and incentivizing more to do the same.

“At Hudson Valley when you pour dollars into here, 97 percent of the kids stay right here and do what they’re supposed to do, serve our business community,” Ramsammy noted.

“This 130,000 square foot building is a building that is going to be constructed to serve that invisible community and it is our friends, our family today, who is going to be part of a signing ceremony to pledge to continue to work with us to make sure that those invisible workers enter that building and exit with the skills whether it’s three months of training of credit or non-credit, six months of training of credit or non-credit, or one year or whether they decide to go on for degrees, it doesn’t matter as long as they have the skills to serve your business is what’s important at the end of the day,” Ramsammy added.

When built, ATEC will enable HVCC to:

Increase enrollment in skilled trades programs by 200 percent.
Train up to 5,000 new skilled technicians in the next decade, to support the workforce in the areas they are needed most.
Expand current programs in areas like Electric and Autonomous Vehicles and Welding and Fabrication to support emerging industries.
Establish new programs that focus on areas of key demand.
Expand fast-track workforce training courses for those already employed in key industries by offering advanced, industry-validated certifications and skill- and competency-based non-credit workforce training programs and boot camps.
Become a magnet for manufacturers and other technical companies around the region and the Northeast seeking a highly skilled workforce and use of industry resources.
Fill the skilled trades industry’s skills gap, meet workforce demand, and help grow the region’s economy.
Provide the model for other centers for applied technologies at SUNY institutions statewide.

Opinion: Autonomous Trucks Will Boost Safety While Cutting Costs for California Businesses

Posted on June 15, 2023June 21, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Paul Cramer, Times of San Diego

More than 12,250 victims were killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes in my home county of Riverside in 2020. That’s not just a sobering statistic; it is a stark reminder of lost loved ones and members of our community.

Nearly 10% of California crashes involve a truck, and 1 in 3 long-haul truck drivers experience a serious crash in their career. As a small business owner, I’m concerned about our state’s unsafe roads and optimistic about the future of autonomous trucks for Riverside County and the rest of the state.

Regrettably, fearmongering and misinformation has California lawmakers considering putting the brakes on autonomous trucks in the Golden State with Assembly Bill 316. We should not preemptively ban AV trucks, but instead encourage California safety officials to put regulations and oversight in place to ensure the highest levels of safety for this new technology.

AV trucks do not get sleepy or distracted. They have 360-degree vision, seeing farther and more clearly, day or night, than human truck drivers. By removing fatal human errors, AV trucks stand to radically improve safety on our roads.

At the same time, businesses like mine are facing labor shortages, historic inflation and strangled supply chains. Rather than accept this as fate, AV trucks can pave the way for sustained prosperity and resiliency. The United States is short 80,000 truck drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations — a number set to double within the decade.

Deploying autonomous trucks can help alleviate the driver shortage by filling in the existing gaps, without replacing jobs. If the state indefinitely requires every AV truck have a human safety operator onboard, California will only be exacerbating the shortage, rather than unlocking the technology to bolster our supply chain resiliency.

Restricting autonomous trucks doesn’t just hurt the bottom lines of California businesses; every Californian is impacted when businesses and consumers don’t get essentials on time. Prices go up; shelves remain bare; items get crossed off menus. Business owners have been trying to cope with the supply chain crisis for nearly 3 years at this point.

Many autonomous truck developers are based right here in California, supporting jobs and communities in the state. Why would we turn this economic development away while nearby states like Arizona and Texas are welcoming them and securing the economic and safety benefits?

In addition to bolstering the state’s supply chain and helping to raise total economic output for all industries, autonomous trucks can also help us achieve our state’s climate goals. Autonomous trucks can help reduce fuel consumption by at least 10% due to their model driving behavior.

It’s bad enough that California’s regulators have yet to establish the safety regime to permit AV trucks to drive in the state. Right now, an autonomous truck could drive from the Port of Savannah, Ga., all the way across the country through seven states before needing to stop at the Colorado River — unable to cross into California. Yet AB 316 would prematurely skip ahead of the DMV and Highway Patrol’s regulations, permanently kneecapping this innovation’s opportunities.

California has long been an incubator of innovation. To radically improve safety, the state must harness our technological prowess and leadership to reflect today’s safety and economic realities, boosting our agriculture, manufacturing, retail and other industries throughout the state. To truly initiate the changes that Californians need, state lawmakers must unlock — not obstruct– autonomous trucks once the appropriate regulations are in place to ensure the safety of everyone.

There needs to be a start to this innovation and California needs to once again lead innovation for the rest of the country.

Autonomy and Road Safety: California Must Choose the Road to Travel

Posted on June 13, 2023June 15, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Tara Andringa, the Orange County Register

For the past two decades, California has been the global leader in autonomous vehicle technology, revolutionizing how we transport people and goods. The state has developed a robust system for overseeing the development, testing, and deployment of highly automated vehicles; the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which regulates the safety of this technology, has issued permits to 40 manufacturers through the most developed AV regulatory process of any state.

Autonomous vehicles can make California’s roads safer, reduce emissions, and bolster the state’s economy through the creation of new jobs. AVs have created thousands of jobs for people of all education and skill levels, and manufacturers are creating pathways to high-tech jobs that do not require four-year degrees. The autonomous trucking sector alone could increase the state’s economic activity by $7.9 billion in 2019 gross domestic product (GDP), according to a study from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation.

As AV technology matures, we are at a crossroads of determining how we can ensure the societal potential that the technology offers — such as greater road safety and new transportation options for people who can’t drive a car — while making sure we are ensuring that we are introducing these new technologies in a thoughtful, deliberate and safe manner.

The California Senate is considering legislation this week, which passed the Assembly recently, that would prohibit the operation of driverless trucks in the state by requiring every autonomous truck to also have a human driver inside. Sponsors of the bill argue that it is about improving road safety — but opponents point out that banning new safety technologies will reinforce the status quo of deaths on our highways and would overturn years of progress by California’s top safety regulators overseeing the safe integration of driverless trucks.

Advancing road safety in California

Every year, we see too many tragic injuries and deaths on our roads, too much pollution, and too much time wasted in gridlock. At the root of these challenges are human errors and choices: reckless, intoxicated, and distracted driving behaviors that lead to crashes, congestion, and hours spent idling in traffic.

And these trends are headed in the wrong direction: Approximately 4,407 Californians lost their lives in traffic crashes in 2022 — a 3% increase over the previous year. The size and weight of trucks make them particularly prone to causing severe crashes; according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the United States saw a 27 percent increase in fatalities in fatal crashes involving large trucks in 2020 — and 83% of those were not occupants of the truck.

The underlying technology of autonomous trucks has the potential to improve road safety for all California road users. By leveraging advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, and sophisticated algorithms, autonomous trucks are capable of detecting potential hazards, analyzing complex road conditions, and responding with unmatched speed and precision.

Unlike human drivers, autonomous trucks are not subject to fatigue, distraction, or impairment, ensuring constant attentiveness that prohibits crashes caused by human error.

Striking the balance

California’s highway safety experts have developed a framework that requires intensive testing, certification, and ongoing evaluation of autonomous trucks.

The DMV collaborates with industry stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers to develop this framework, addressing safety concerns while still allowing for the responsible and controlled deployment of autonomous trucks.

Assembly Bill 316 would close the door to this regulatory framework developed by the state’s top safety experts and institute a blanket prohibition on autonomous trucks, regardless of their safety records.

There remains a great deal of public skepticism about automated vehicles. My organization, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, exists to foster fact-based conversations that acknowledge the deep uncertainty new technologies can bring — and the benefits in safety and mobility these technologies promise.

As Californians consider how best to approach autonomous trucking, they should recognize another risk — the risk of maintaining a status quote that kills the equivalent of more than one packed airliner full of passengers every week.

State of Michigan Signs MOU to Establish Global Semiconductor Center of Excellence in Michigan

Posted on May 16, 2023June 5, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Kathleen Achtenberg, Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a new public-private partnership with semiconductor company KLA, Belgium-based technology innovation hub imec, the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and General Motors that will establish a global semiconductor center of excellence in Michigan. The partnership was announced by KLA CEO Rick Wallace during his keynote at imec’s ITF World event focused on semiconductor advances and tech solutions, taking place this week in Antwerp, Belgium.

“KLA and imec’s decision to establish a new STAR center of excellence in Michigan demonstrates our global leadership as a hub for advanced manufacturing and innovation, especially in the semiconductor industry,” said Governor Whitmer. “I am proud that Michigan was chosen as the location for the STAR research center over several other sites, proving that we have the skilled workforce, growing economy, and strong, business-friendly environment to win projects from one of the world’s most innovative companies. Let’s keep working together to bring advanced manufacturing and critical supply chains home as we create economic opportunity in every region and build a brighter future for Michigan.”

The Semiconductor Talent and Automotive Research (STAR) initiative will focus on developing the talent base and infrastructure necessary to accelerate advanced semiconductor applications for electrification and autonomous mobility and move the automotive industry forward. The plan establishes a center of excellence in Michigan to formalize support for the development of the semiconductor industry workforce as well as the advancement of autonomous automotive solutions and electric vehicle research.

Specifically, the Michigan STAR center intends to focus on:

Accelerating fundamental and advanced research for vehicle electrification and autonomous automotive solutions;
Developing and translating of innovations in vehicle electrification and autonomous automotive technologies;
Collaborating with learning institutions, including K-12 and vocational schools, community colleges, four-year colleges and research universities, to enable a Midwest-based skilled talent pipeline;
Training and re-training programs to prepare the current workforce for modern chip manufacturing and assembly roles; and
Creating a physical collaboration space, laboratory and training spaces, and incubator funding for related startups.

“KLA is focused on investment in research and development to help address key challenges for automotive semiconductors,” said Rick Wallace, President & CEO of KLA. “In 2019, KLA opened a second headquarters in Ann Arbor, putting us closer to automotive customers and the larger Michigan technology ecosystem. The STAR Michigan initiative accelerates our support for talent development, collaboration, and innovation in the region.”

The recent chip shortage has underscored how critical semiconductors are to today’s cars and trucks.

“The STAR initiative is creating, strengthening and sustaining an essential connection between the semiconductor and auto sectors – and it’s doing so at the right place at the right time,” said Santa J. Ono, President of the University of Michigan. “As the EV transition gains momentum, we must ensure that we can develop and manufacture the advanced microelectronics those vehicles will require. This initiative is a critical complement to several major efforts in both semiconductors and mobility already underway at U-M and we look forward to collaborating with our partners to advance and integrate this work.”

U-M is also home to the world-class Lurie Nanofabrication Facility, which supports advanced semiconductor research, education, and regional economic development. Over the past five years, 95 companies and 150 U-M faculty members have utilized it, as well as researchers from 40 other US universities. MAVERIC, the Michigan Advanced Vision for Education and Research in ICs, is a semiconductor collaborative that is pulling together efforts from across the university to support a secure, resilient and innovative domestic semiconductor sector. And the University of Michigan Electric Vehicle Center, a $130 million state-funded effort, is working to accelerate collaborative EV R&D, develop a highly skilled workforce, and establish advanced campus infrastructure and facilities to support both research and education.

As part of the collaboration, Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor will launch a short-term program over the next year to train semiconductor technicians.

“One of the most important jobs we have as a community college is to listen to industry partners to understand talent needs and then customize programs to quickly train the current and future workforce,” said WCC President Dr. Rose B. Bellanca. “We stand ready to provide the training and education required to deepen our state’s talent pool with well-qualified technicians to support chip production.”

The STAR initiative is designed to connect automotive, semiconductor and innovation research initiatives in Europe (Belgium), the United States (Michigan) and Asia (Japan). Each partner will bring relevant expertise to identify and manage programs aligned to the automotive industry, as well as talent development and recruitment.

“Today’s announcement by KLA and imec underscores the strength of our state’s high-tech ecosystem and will further boost our ability to attract long-term investments from semiconductor companies from around the world,” said Quentin Messer, Jr., CEO of the MEDC and President and Chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund. “We are proud to have earned this vote of confidence from KLA and imec and are grateful to them for choosing Michigan. We’re pleased to join our partners in collaborating on this project, which will help solidify Michigan’s culture of innovation and lead to real advancements in reshoring the semiconductor industry and the future of mobility and vehicle electrification.”

In addition to KLA and imec, the Michigan STAR COE intends to collaborate with General Motors, the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and MEDC, with additional organizations expected to join as the program matures.

The announcement by KLA and imec to establish this semiconductor center of excellence in Michigan is the latest example of the semiconductor industry’s continued growth in the state. The news builds on the March announcement by California-based indie Semiconductor that it is investing $12.5 million and creating up to 180 high-wage jobs in Auburn Hills, where it plans to expand its office to include a best-in-class semiconductor design and testing facility. Michigan’s demonstrated leadership in advanced manufacturing within the semiconductor field is also evident in companies such as Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, the largest producer of polysilicon in the U.S. Hemlock was chosen as the site of Governor Whitmer’s CHIPS Act executive directive signing thanks to its key role in Michigan’s growing semiconductor industry. Additionally, SK Siltron CSS’s new manufacturing facility in Bay Citystrengthens Michigan’s semiconductor sector leadership.

In September 2022, Hemlock announced plans to invest $375 million and create 170 jobs at its facilities in Thomas Township, further ensuring Hemlock’s long-term commitment to continue to produce the essential polysilicon for the semiconductor and solar industries in Michigan.

In an effort to make Michigan a top state for semiconductor talent solutions and growth, Gov. Whitmer and MEDC in late 2022 launched the new Semiconductor Talent Action Team. The Talent Action Team will work across the public sector, industry partners, and training institutions to identify a clear set of semiconductor-specific curricula and R&D investments, placing Michigan in a strong position to attract long-term, sustainable investments from semiconductor companies around the world.

This builds on the Semiconductor Career and Apprenticeship Network, or SCAN Program, that will create pathways and opportunities for job seekers and tools and systems for semiconductor companies to attract, develop and retain a diverse, innovative and skilled workforce. Announced in May 2022, Michigan was one of only three states at the time to launch this planning work to define curricula to support both workers and employers in the global semiconductor industry.

With a rich history in manufacturing and innovation, Michigan is poised to be a guiding hand as the world’s needs for semiconductor technology continue to evolve in the 21st century. As the global epicenter of the automotive industry and home to one-fifth of U.S. auto production, Michigan is equipped to support the increasing global demand for semiconductor technology.

Torc Robotics, C.R. England Team on Autonomous Pilot

Posted on May 15, 2023May 19, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Kelron Greenhalgh, Transport Topics

Torc Robotics and C.R. England are teaming up on a pilot program that leverages the refrigerated carrier’s temperature-controlled loads and the self-driving-vehicle technology company’s Level 4 autonomous trucks, they said in a May 9 statement.

This will be one of many collaborations, Torc CEO Peter Vaughan Schmidt told Transport Topics on May 12. Torc, independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, wants to ensure it has insight into all the relevant subsegments of trucking. Autonomous vehicles can provide a lot of value to Torc’s customers and society as a whole, Schmidt said.

The program is Torc’s second announced U.S. carrier pilot. Initial planning for the C.R. England partnership will begin in the middle of the year, with on-road tests soon after, Torc said.

Joanna Buttler, head of the autonomous technology group at Daimler Truck, said in the statement that the arrangement will bring the parent company of Freightliner and Western Star closer to its goal of commercializing and implementing autonomous trucking within the decade.

“By adding autonomous lanes to our network, we can expand our customer offerings and create more structured jobs for drivers at both ends of autonomous runs,” C.R, England CEO Chad England said. “Torc’s deep integration with Daimler Truck makes our two organizations a perfect fit for piloting this new technology,” C.R. England’s refrigerated operations represent an important trucking segment, Schmidt said, adding that the opportunities for using self-driving vehicles in the sector were substantial, particularly in terms of hours of service.

The partnership will help Torc learn a lot about C.R. England’s processes, Schmidt said. Torc needs to understand what goes on with refrigerated trucks, including the loading of the trailer, and must move on from using concrete blocks as the load, he said.

C.R. England’s commitment to safety offered a great overlap, he said. The I-40 southwest corridor is the starting point for Torc’s first generation product. That highway is ideal for autonomous trucks, with favorable weather conditions and long stretches of road, Schmidt said.

The benefits of autonomous trucks tend to be centered on safety and operating costs, said Jim Lowell, vice president of technology at predictive analytics specialist Uptake. Trucking companies’ overall safety score should improve as a result of the implementation of autonomous trucking, likewise fuel optimization, he said May 12, adding that autonomous vehicles could be more consistent.

The focus on safety cannot be overemphasized, Lowell said, because if an autonomous car crashes, then the manufacturer is liable, whereas if an autonomous truck strikes something, then the original equipment manufacturer and the trucking company are liable.

Autonomous trucking is set to provide as much as 20 times more data for operators, Lowell said. Uptake specializes in helping companies optimize their operations through data analysis.

More data is the foundation of expanding artificial intelligence use. Torc recently acquired Canadian developer Algolux for its intellectual property and expertise in computer vision and machine learning.

The self-driving market is expanding fast. Autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics unveiled a battery-electric Class 8 truck at the 2023 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in early May. Other self-driving truck developers combining autonomous driving and electrification include Einride and Nikola Corp.

Kodiak said it plans to incorporate the zero-emission truck into its test fleet next year, joining the automated diesel-powered trucks the company already is operating on U.S. highways. The Peterbilt Model 579EV, designed for shorthaul and drayage applications, has a range of up to 150 miles. The vehicle’s batteries can be recharged in as little as three hours.

Waymo One Doubles Service Area in Phoenix and Continues Growing in San Francisco

Posted on May 4, 2023May 10, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By the Waymo Team, Waymo

We’re significantly expanding our Waymo One ride-hailing service area in Metro Phoenix and growing in San Francisco to connect more communities and serve more riders.

In Metro Phoenix, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., we’re doubling our Waymo One service area and connecting our downtown and East Valley territories. This expansion will include Scottsdale for the first time, cover nearly all of Tempe and give additional access to Chandler and Mesa. Anyone in the area can hail a ride with the Waymo One app, whether they’re Arizona State University students commuting between campuses or pin-seeking golfers on vacation.

With this expansion, we now serve 180 square miles of The Valley — the largest fully autonomous service area in the world. It’s also nearly four times the size of our initial Waymo One service area when we opened the world’s first true fully autonomous ride-hail service to the public in 2020.

To serve our growing Phoenix ridership and such a large metro area, we have opened a second location to access Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at the new 24th Street PHX SkyTrain® Station. We now offer a convenient airport pickup and drop off location no matter where you’re headed in the metro area. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport served more than 44 million passengers last year, or more than 120,000 per day, a significant commercial opportunity for Waymo’s growing operations.

In San Francisco, we’ll continue onboarding new Waymo One riders and are giving our Trusted Testers access to more of the city, including Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach. Waymo is the only company to offer fully autonomous rides to members of the public across the vast majority of the city — 24 hours a day. We have welcomed thousands of external San Franciscans to Waymo One since we began offering rider-only trips in late 2022 and have tens of thousands more people on our waitlist as we await our final permit to offer a paid service.

“Waymo One remains the only and largest 24/7 fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the world — serving thousands of rides in multiple key markets — and we’re scaling quickly,” said Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo Chief Product Officer. “These latest expansions in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco will help us provide more trips to more riders in more places, and are a big step forward on the road to growing our business.”

Across Waymo One, we are now serving over 10 thousand trips per week to public riders, not including employees. With this latest expansion, we intend for those numbers to accelerate rapidly to 10 times that scale by next summer. More than 150 million people use ride-hail services in the U.S., and with Phoenix and San Francisco as two of the most lucrative and fastest-growing markets, Waymo One is well positioned for continued growth as we commercialize our technology.

Fueling this growth is the continued refinement of the Waymo Driver and operational efficiencies implemented across our fleet. Today’s impressive performance of the Waymo Driver is enabled by tens of billions of miles in simulation, tens of millions of on-road autonomous miles, state-of-the-art machine learning and invaluable feedback from real riders. With this expansion, we’ve released key software updates to increase the reliability of our service, including improved hand gesture detection, more versatile multi-point maneuvers and enhancements to our driving performance in inclement weather like very heavy fog among other things. We also now allow up to four passengers in our vehicles, delivering more flexibility for our riders and improving the everyday usefulness of our service.

“When it comes to transportation options, convenience, safety and efficiency are key for Scottsdale’s 9.7 million annual visitors,” said Stephanie Pressler, director of community and government affairs at Experience Scottsdale. “Experience Scottsdale is excited that our visitors and residents alike will soon have a new option in Waymo as they move throughout Old Town Scottsdale’s shopping, entertainment, historic and arts districts, as well as travel to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.”

Over the next few months, we’ll focus our efforts on growing ridership and increasing capacity in San Francisco and Metro Phoenix. We’ll build upon our strong relationships with community groups like Foundation for Senior Living and LightHouse for the Blind, plus exciting partnerships with organizations like the Stern Grove Festival and Arizona Diamondbacks. We’ll also apply our lessons learned in those markets as we grow rider-only testing operations in Los Angeles, our third major ride-hail city.

Join us for a ride when you’re in town by downloading the Waymo One app on the App Store and Google Play.

4 Ways Unique Partnerships are Helping Build the Next Generation Tech Workforce

Posted on April 26, 2023May 19, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Valerie Singer, World Economic Forum

Tech workforce challenges are creating barriers to innovation for public and private sector organizations.
Innovative partnerships can help close the technical skills gap and build better pathways to in-demand jobs.
We explore four ways to unlock career opportunities and address the global skills gap.

Government, education, and virtually every industry face tech workforce challenges that can lead to barriers preventing public and private sector organizations from expanding and building operational efficiencies. Intentional partnerships can help accelerate solutions that prepare learners with the skills needed to meet the demands of today’s technological advances, as well as the future of work.

In a 2022 global Gallup study of 30,000 workers and 9,300 employers in 19 countries, advanced digital skills were highly valued. Companies that employ advanced digital workers – such as cloud engineers and software developers – are about 50% more likely to report innovating in the past two years than companies that only use basic digital technologies.

Additionally, 66% of companies that run some or most of their business in the cloud reported innovating products or services in the past two years, a rate five times higher than companies that do not currently use the cloud.

As digital transformation continues to drive business growth and improve how we live, work, and learn, organizations need skilled technical talent to stay competitive. Developing that talent and ensuring training is aligned to in-demand skills will take collaborative and intentional ingenuity that can only be accomplished when education, industry, and government work together.

Collaborating with government to increase access to tech skills training

Agile and equitable upskilling and reskilling efforts are critical and can unlock opportunities for early career talent to enter the tech workforce and enable current workers to build new careers. Collaborating with government leaders enables training programmes to scale across countries, regions, and states to reach vast amounts of learners.

In Kenya, the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Authority, a state corporation under the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are creating new opportunities for Kenyan workers and expanding the funnel of local talent so businesses can thrive. ICT and AWS will upskill 10,000 students across ten universities using AWS Academy through this collaboration.

Many states are interested in rapidly growing their technology sector in the US. Their willingness to move fast to meet the demand creates a strong foundation to develop statewide training and education initiatives. Working closely with leaders to understand their workforce development needs, AWS offers a range of education programmes to help communities solve their skills gaps and build economic prosperity. AWS has launched more than 13 statewide initiatives between education systems, government agencies, policy leaders, economic development organizations, and employers to develop opportunities for thousands of residents to take advantage of various pathways to cloud jobs.

Bridging the skills gap in curriculum

A culture of lifelong learning is the foundation for innovation and is driven both by formal education and other forms of training. When individuals embrace this approach, the idea that learning should end at some point is replaced with a lifelong learning mindset where the exploration of certifications, stackable credentials, real-world training programmes, and more are important. However, as individuals adopt new ways of learning over the course of their careers and lifetimes, education institutions need to adapt quickly to the fast-changing world we live in today. Education in partnership with industry can help better prepare learners for a digital economy through curriculum modernization.

The Regional Ministry of Education and Sports under Junta de Andalucía, the regional government of Andalusia in Spain, wanted to update its higher vocational IT degree for public education to match the real-world requirements of employers. In September 2021, the governing body launched a new cloud computing curriculum as part of its higher vocational IT degree training – the first regional agreement of its kind in Spain. Junta de Andalucía aligned its curriculum with content from AWS Education Programs and trained over 700 educators across Andalusia in cloud computing. The governing body plans to introduce 6,000 students across 105 schools to the curriculum by 2023.

Building pathways to tech careers

The demand for skilled technical talent doesn’t just impact tech-focused enterprises. Organizations across various sectors and industries must fill roles in software development, cloud architecture, data science, cyber security, cloud support engineers, and more. Employers have an important role in this effort by advising, creating in-roads to open positions, and investing in the future workforce to ensure learners have the right skills to fill in-demand jobs.

In March 2023, AWS and Siemens started collaborating on tech apprenticeships in Germany. Siemens integrated cloud curriculum, hands-on labs, and gamified learning with AWS Skill Builder and AWS Cloud Quest into Siemens IT apprenticeships. This collaboration will also result in apprenticeships for two cloud data centre roles in Frankfurt, further expanding hands-on opportunities for learners and creating a funnel of career-ready talent for local companies.

Accelerating learning through work-based skills training

Integrating skills-based learning into traditional education pathways allows learners to obtain credentials with practical skills that are highly relevant to employers. AWS powers Cloud Innovation Centers (CICs) across the world that are normally based at higher education institutions that enable students to engage in project-based learning. Learners develop and apply skills to have a direct impact on how public sector organizations operate and serve the community.

The University of British Columbia (UBC) CIC uses a practical approach to teaching computer science and technical skills by applying student innovation and a full range of cloud services to real-world problems in a process the university calls work-integrated learning. Students accepted into the UBC CIC co-op program spend four to eight months working on a project that impacts health, the environment, education, and other public interest issues.

These collaborative initiatives unite leaders around a common goal: addressing the global skills gap at scale. In each of these engagements, education institutions experienced a simplified process to modernize their tech curriculum, educators were equipped to start teaching new tech concepts better aligned to in-demand jobs, and learners gained hands-on experience to strengthen the tech talent pipeline for employers.

When we approach the global skills gap by addressing perspectives from education, government, and industry, we can create a multi-dimensional solution through various partnerships that meet unique needs.

A Senior and Formerly Unhoused Mechanic Tries Out Autonomous Driving

Posted on April 21, 2023April 29, 2023 by Kathryn Branson

By Let’s Talk Autonomous Driving

By all accounts, Clayton, a Phoenix man in his 70s, is flourishing. He resides in a close-knit, affordable housing community called Acacia Heights that hosts game nights and potlucks once a month to bring its residents closer together. He serves as a volunteer on the board of nonprofit Circle the City that provides life-saving healthcare to unhoused individuals.

“I feel grateful for every day I’m allowed to wake up,” Clayton says.

It’s hard to imagine that not too long ago, Clayton was also unhoused and a client of Circle the City. Circle the City empowered him to find his home at Acacia Heights through another nonprofit, Foundation for Senior Living (FSL), which provides assistance to Phoenix seniors and people with disabilities and access to affordable housing.

“The residents here are really good at looking after each other,” Clayton says, adding that he loves the community’s amenities like a common room, computer lab, and easy access to downtown Phoenix. “It’s a really, really good feeling to me.”

In contrast to when he was unhoused, Clayton now has many community connections, and volunteering is especially meaningful to him.

“It’s my way of giving back,” Clayton explains.

Clayton, who once worked as an auto mechanic (who once put a totally torn-apart engine back together in two hours and 10 minutes!) believes in a lifelong commitment to trying new things. He put that into action recently when he caught a Waymo One ride to Circle the City in an autonomously driven vehicle.

“People said, ‘You can’t do that.’ And I said, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t. That’s not in my book.’”

Tami Bohannon, CEO of Foundation for Senior Living, which manages Acacia Heights, says FSL is partnering with Waymo to explore how the technology could help residents like Clayton, many of whom do not drive.

“The partnership with Waymo allows FSL participants to stay connected to the larger community,” Tami emphasizes.

Waymo’s autonomous driving technology is designed to be conscientious, constantly vigilant, follow road rules, and make safe driving decisions. Not only could the technology offer seniors who can no longer drive an on-demand safe transportation option, it also could help seniors with limited mobility get the final miles from their homes to public transportation stations by providing one possible solution to the “last mile problem.” Waymo has worked with Phoenix’s public transit system on piloting models for how the technology could close transit gaps.

Tami says the population that FSL serves is expanding, and so will the need for assistance and tools that help people live independently.

“We have a silver tsunami coming. By 2030, there will be 42 million seniors, people over the age of 65 in the United States,” Tami explains. “I do know 90% of seniors tell us they want to live independently.”

Over the last 30 years, FSL has developed 25 affordable apartment communities for seniors and people with disabilities in Phoenix, including Acacia Heights.

Tami says she believes that technology like Waymo’s could be an extension of the services FSL provides already.

“When I think of Waymo’s partnership with FSL, it is actually an extension of our caregiving resources,” Tami says. “If a senior has the ability to use an app, call a Waymo, and take a ride to go to the doctor, an exercise class, or to visit a friend or family member… it’s kind of a new way to look at caregiving.”

Tami says the partnership reflects FSL’s solutions-focused, innovative values.

“Whether that solution is an autonomous car that picks up one of our participants or residents, or we would love to explore robotics and be able to have some form of robotics help us with our caregiving duties, whether it’s in someone’s home or in one of our centers, we’re all about embracing innovation and looking at the world differently.”

Tami says she realized some people might be afraid of autonomous driving technology like Waymo’s, but that life is much richer when people don’t let fear stand in the way of new ways of doing things.

“Think about how your life would be different if you had this kind of technology, this innovative technology available to you,” Tami urges, adding that Clayton is a great example of someone trying new things. “We can’t let fear drive us, but we can let an autonomous car drive us.”

Author: Kathryn Branson