Comotion Podcast

In this episode of CoMotion's Fast Forward Podcast, John Rossant sits down with Michael Inabinet, the Central Division president of HNTB Infrastructure. Join them as they navigate the complexities of how public agencies can maintain their core missions while leveraging the latest innovations for greater efficiency and impact. From the unique challenges faced by DOTs, transit systems, airports, and toll systems to the growing importance of intermodality, the episode paints a vivid picture of a future where sustainability, technology, and customer experience harmoniously coexist. Get your tickets for CoMotion LA next month and get a chance to network with the HNTB team.

In this episode, CoMotion's John Rossant chats with Andrew Glass Hastings, the Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation. They delve into the heart of CoMotion LA '23 happening next month, exploring this year’s theme: 'Rewiring the City: Building Infrastructure, Boosting Innovation'. Andrew provides insights into the Open Mobility Foundation Summit, highlighting transformative tools such as the Mobility Data Specification (MDS) and Curb Data Specification (CDS). Tune in now!

As CoMotion LA draws near, we chat with our Impact Partner, World Auto Steel. Their Steel E-Motive program stands at the forefront of sculpting the future of sustainable Mobility as a Service, propelled by innovative advancements in steel. CoMotion’s CEO John Rossant is joined by World Auto Steel’s Technical Director, George Coates, and Ricardo’s Chief Engineer, Vehicle Systems Integration, Neil McGregor. This episode deep dives into what position steel occupies in an era of fully autonomous ride-sharing and how it can contribute to net zero emission targets. Tune in now!

In this special Fast Forward episode, we’re joined by Daniel Knowles, the Midwest correspondent for The Economist and author of "Carmageddon," as well as John Rossant, CEO of CoMotion. Our guest this week discusses the key themes in his polemical new book, from Nairobi's polluted streets to Houston's sprawling 26-lane freeway, the average New Yorker’s CO2 emissions, and the prevalence of excessive parking lots. Don't miss this thought-provoking episode that challenges our relationship with cars, examines the politics surrounding it, and explores new, alternative models of transportation. Tune in now! —————— Find out more about Daniel Knowle's new book Carmageddon: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730724/carmageddon-by-daniel-knowles/ —————— Early bird tickets are now on sale for our upcoming flagship event CoMotion LA, November, 14-16, 2023. Learn more: comotionla.com/register —————— Have any burning questions or topics you want to hear on the podcast? Write to us at fastforward@comotionglobal.com we

Amidst banking turbulence and rising interest rates, a crucial question arises: in this challenging scenario, where can mobility visionaries turn to secure financial support? CoMotion’s John Rossant chats with Andrew Lewis, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Mobility Capital, and Hooman Yazhari, Executive Chairman and Founder, to delve into the current state of investment in the field of mobility during these uncertain times. The primary objective of Mobility Capital is to provide financial backing for the advancement of innovative ventures and assets in the realms of mobility, logistics, and transportation. How are they investing now? —————— Find out more about Mobility Capital: https://www.mobilitycapital.co/ —————— Learn more about our upcoming gathering Motivate in Vancouver next week! June 27-28, 2023. https://motivatevancouver.com/register —————— Early bird tickets are now on sale for our upcoming flagship event CoMotion LA, November, 14-16, 2023. Learn more: https://comotionla.com/register —————— Have

As the world shifts towards smart infrastructure, roads are evolving to unlock the full potential of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) for increased efficiency. CoMotion’s John Rossant chats with Tyler Duvall, CEO and Co-Founder of Cavnue. The company is developing the first connected corridor in Michigan. The project is designed to reduce congestion, improve mobility and support advanced vehicles being developed by automakers. Listen in to learn more about the future of our roads. —————— Find out more about Cavnue: https://www.cavnue.com/ —————— Learn more about our upcoming CoMotion MIAMI gathering next week! May 10-11, 2023. www.comotionmiami.com/register —————— Have any burning questions or topics you want to hear on the podcast? Write to us at fastforward@comotionglobal.com we love hearing from listeners! —————— Stay on the cutting edge and get updates delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for CoMotion NEWS, our must-read newsletter that contains the most critical mobility news, upda

The pace of electrification is speeding up and bp pulse is one of the key players making EV charging easier for fleets. CoMotion’s John Rossant interviews Vic Shao, president of bp pulse fleet. Recently, the company announced a partnership with Hertz to build a network of charging solutions which will serve the largest rental fleet of EVs in North America. Learn more about how companies like bp pulse are establishing private and public partnerships to boost the adoption of electric fleets. —————— Find out more about bp pulse: https://www.bppulse.co.uk/ —————— Interested in joining our next event CoMotion MIAMI '23 in May? Early-bird passes are available: comotionmiami.com/register —————— Sign up for our upcoming CoMotion LIVE 02/22 – The Future of High-Speed Rail in the US: Why the hold up? https://comotionnews.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kzQhhO6pQ-GEreW-gSHTKg —————— Have any burning questions or topics you want to hear on the podcast? Write to us at fastforward@comotionglobal.com we love hearing f

Very complicated technology is not always the answer. If you’ve been to Santa Monica, San Diego, Dallas or Miami in the last few years you’ll have seen Circuit’s distinctive electric shuttles ferrying people up and down the main drags in those cities and towns. Circuit provides 100% electric local shuttle services offering a great way to reduce cars on the streets. They’re also mostly a free service... What’s not to like about that? Find out more about Circuit’s story in this week's Fast Forward Podcast where we are joined by their Co-Founder and CEO Alex Esposito. Listen in! —————— Find out more about Circuit: https://www.ridecircuit.com/ —————— Learn more about our upcoming CoMotion MIAMI gathering this Spring: https://www.comotionmiami.com/register —————— Interested in finding out about solutions for lower densitity cities to join the bike revolution? Join our upcoming webinar, January 25th. Sign-up here: https://comotionnews.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7U7JgI34Qr23dM112MokWA —————— Have any burnin

In this discussion with Eve Air Mobility’s SVP of Business Development, David Rottblatt, we deep delve into eVTOLs and how the public and private sectors are preparing the world for a new and revolutionary mode of transport. CoMotion’s John Rossant, analyzes the latest advances in this space, the need for a new infrastructure, and its deployment. --- Show Notes --- Prepare yourself for 2032 with the most important insights. Read our Urban Mobility Year in Review. https://comotionnews.com/2022/12/16/2022-urban-mobility-year-in-review/

The massive expansion of LA Metro’s network, the new political leadership in Los Angeles, the LA Olympics in 2028… These are some of the important issues that CoMotion's John Rossant has the chance to discuss with LA Metro’s CEO, Stephanie Wiggins on this week's FastForward Podcast. Learn more about the challenges LA Metro will have to overcome in the next few years as it knits together one of the country’s largest and most jurisdictionally complex counties.

This week, CoMotion's John Rossant is joined by Blue Systems CEO Christophe Arnaud to discuss his mission to empower cities to achieve their urban mobility goals for the benefit of residents and visitors. Blue Systems provides smart mobility and smart city software solutions to cities and private companies across the globe. Find out more about Blue Systems' work on this week’s podcast. —————— Find out more about Blue Systems: https://www.bluesystems.io/ —————— Interested in joining our flagship CoMotion LA gathering in November? Early-bird passes are available until October 17: comotionla.com/register —————— We invite you to apply to the LA New Mobility Challenge. Our partner, the UK Government, is delighted to announce a new prize for the overall LANMC winner. The UK’s Department for International Trade will host the finalist on a bespoke mobility innovation tour. The tour will include visits to London, the Midlands, and beyond, meeting with key partners, stakeholders, R&D centres and government offic

On this week’s episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward podcast, our host, John Rossant, sits down with Charles Territo, Chief Growth Officer of Hayden AI. Hayden AI is pioneering smart traffic enforcement with its mobile platform to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of municipal fleet vehicles. Rossant and Territo discuss the latest announcements of the company: their partnership with Conduent, their new contract with the MTA for Automated Bus Lane Enforcement camera systems, and more. Tune in! —————— Find out more about Hayden AI: https://www.hayden.ai/ —————— Interested in joining our flagship CoMotion LA gathering in November? Early-bird passes are available until October 17: comotionla.com/register —————— Watch the latest CoMotion LIVE webinar Mobility in Extreme Heat, https://comotionnews.com/2022/08/31/mobility-in-extreme-weather/ Register for our upcoming webinar E-Mobility with French Savoir-Faire supported by Choose Paris Region, 10.05.22: https://comotionnews.zoom.us/webinar/regi

John Rossant interviews Brendan Jones, President of Blink Charging. The company is making it easier for drivers to charge their electric vehicles and is now focused on expanding their services. In this discussion, Rossant and Jones chat about Blink’s business model, their international roll out, and latest acquisitions. “Let’s change the world one charge at a time,” says Brendan Jones. Listen in and learn more about how Blink is helping shape the new perspective of fueling vehicles. —————— Find out more about Blink Charging: https://blinkcharging.com/ —————— Interested in joining our flagship CoMotion LA gathering in November? Early-bird passes are available until October 17: comotionla.com/register —————— Watch the latest CoMotion LIVE webinar supported by Transloc, University Transit: Reliable Mobility for Students. https://comotionnews.com/2022/08/17/comotion-live-08-24-university-transit-reliable-mobility-for-students/ —————— Have any burning questions or topics you want to hear on the podcast? W

John Rossant is joined by REGENT CEO and Co-Founder, Billy Thalheimer, to discuss the future of coastal travel. Cutting-edge technology is propelling the maritime sector toward being a fast and environmentally responsive way of transportation. Thalheimer talks about REGENT’s sea glider as the world’s first viable commercial solution to all-electric coastal transportation. —————— Find out more about REGENT: https://www.regentcraft.com/ Watch Billy Thalheimer’s Keynote from CoMotion MIAMI ’22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1c9h0ZOcvs —————— Interested in joining our flagship CoMotion LA gathering in November? Super early-bird passes are available until August 31: https://comotionla.com/register —————— Have any burning questions or topics you want to hear on the podcast? Write to us at fastforward@comotionglobal.com we love hearing from listeners! —————— Stay on the cutting edge and get updates delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for CoMotion NEWS, our must-read newsletter that contains the

This live presentation of CoMotion’s signature podcast focuses on Vancouver as an ideal ecosystem to catalyze major breakthroughs in next-gen mobility: a dynamic mix of established and emerging industries in transportation and clean technology, some of the world’s leading research universities, and a diverse and highly-skilled workforce.

Greg and Julia sign off for 2021, but not before discussing President Biden’s most recent executive order on sustainability, where micromobility meets crypto, and “the dark side of 15-minute delivery.” Greg’s joined by Motional’s Holger Caesar to discuss the latest release open source training data, which cities might someday use to design a driving test for AVs. That’s a wrap! Show Notes: 1. President Biden Signs Executive Order Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy Economy Through Federal Sustainability (WhiteHouse.gov) https://www.whitehouse.gov/ 2. E-Bike Sales Could Get Big Push From Build Back Better Act (Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-04/-900-e-bike-tax-credit-possible-in-build-back-better 3. The case for building a micromobility DAO (Josh Squire) https://medium.com/@josh_94206/the-case-for-building-a-micromobility-dao-to-encourage-and-support-the-use-of-micromobility-16407ac4e1 4. The Dark Side of 15-Minute Delivery (Bloomberg CityLab) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl

Greg & Julia open this season’s penultimate episode with a wide-ranging discussion of energy markets, infrastructure spending, Transport for London in trouble, and the running controversy over cities collecting data from transit and micromobility trips. Greg is then joined by Lacuna CEO Hugh Martin to discuss his open source approach to building software for cities, respond to critics of this public-private approach, and speculate on where cities’ digital twins might collide with the corporate Metaverse. Don’t forget to send Greg & Julia questions for their end-of-season mailbag: fastforward@comotionglobal.com. Show notes: 1. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bill Overview of Highway Provisions (US DOT Federal Highway Administration) https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/docs/bil_overview_20211122.pdf 2. Tumult in the energy markets (The Gregor Letter — subscription required)https://gregor.substack.com/p/tumult?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0MTYyMTEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjQzMDE2MzU2LCJfIjoiTEFadi8iLCJpYXQiOjE2M

Greg and Julia recap the themes and highlights of CoMotion LA 2021, from the implications of the infrastructure bill to the proliferation of “dark stores” to the future of parking. To unpack some of these sessions, Greg interviews CityFI’s Gabe Klein, Metropolis’ Alex Israel, and Duffl’s David Lin while on location in Los Angeles. It’s the next best thing to being there.

With Julia on holiday, Greg is once again joined by CoMotion’s John Rossant for a whirlwind analysis of U.S. elections (free transit in Boston?), COP26 (beyond EVs?), energy prices’ wild ride as the renewables revolution continues apace, and New York City taxi drivers’ successful hunger strike. John is joined by UP Partners managing director Ben Marcus for a wide-ranging conversation about urban- (and regional) air mobility — a major theme of next week’s CoMotion LA! As always, send questions to Greg & Julia at fastforward@comotionglobal.com. Show Notes: • They Won: The Hunger-Striking Taxi Drivers Who Claimed Victory (Curbed) https://www.curbed.com/2021/11/what-the-nyc-taxi-drivers-on-a-hunger-strike-won.html • Transit Advocate Michelle Wu Will Be Boston’s Next Mayor (Streetsblog) https://mass.streetsblog.org/2021/11/02/transit-advocate-michelle-wu-will-be-bostons-next-mayor/ • No Bicycling at COP26 Means Quickest Way to Decarbonize Road Transport Is Inexplicably Missing (Forbes) https://www.forbes.com/s

Greg and Julia discuss Tesla’s entry into the trillion-dollar club, what a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill means for EVs, and how electric vehicles won’t help stem the alarming rise in vehicular deaths this year. They’re joined by the New York City MTA’s chief accessibility officer Quemuel Arroyo to discuss his mission to make the country’s largest transit system accessible for all, and now you can ask Greg and Julia questions via email. Drop them a line! fastforward@comotionglobal.com Show Notes: • Rocky Mountain Institute’s SHIFT Calculator. (RMI) (https://shift.rmi.org) • Electric Car Revolution Crushes Japan’s Struggling Small Towns (Bloomberg) (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-24/electric-car-revolution-crushes-japan-s-struggling-small-towns) • US traffic fatalities up 18 percent in first half of 2021 (The Hill) (https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/579038-us-traffic-fatalities-up-18-percent-in-first-half-of-2021) • It started with 5 families. Now hundreds are biking to