Amazon is trying to go even faster
Amazon isn’t content being the world’s biggest online retailer. By introducing one-hour and three-hour delivery options in the U.S., the tech giant hopes to compete with other purveyors of instant gratification like Uber Eats, Instacart and DoorDash.
Otherwise, we’re thinking a lot about U.S. politics today: major federal regulatory changes coming for AVs, the MTA’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, the messed up way that America counts traffic deaths and why AVs should prompt cities to consider congestion pricing. Finally, as we watch the price of gas tick up in response to the Iran war, this seems like a fitting time to recall there’s one neat trick to make oil crises far less painful: electrification!
What you need to know
This is how much oil EVs saved: Here’s something to consider as the global economy teeters in response to Iran’s attacks on oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz: electric vehicles reduced global oil consumption by 2.3 million barrels a day last year, according to a modeled scenario from BloombergNEF.
Amazon gets into food delivery: The online retail giant introduces one-hour and three-hour delivery options in an effort to compete with the likes of UberEat, Instacart and DoorDash. That is not nearly as ambitious an offer as the 10-minute deliveries Amazon offers in India and the 15-minute deliveries it has promised in the United Arab Emirates, but it shows how important food delivery has become in the American economy.
America is counting traffic deaths wrong: U.S. transportation officials often focus on fatalities per-mile driven, rather than fatalities per-capita. Through that lens, the fact that Americans are far more likely to die in car crashes than people in other rich countries is not a problem, since at least we drive more miles before we die.
MTA vs. Trump: New York’s transit agency sues the Trump administration over its withholding of previously-promised federal funds for the Second Avenue Subway project in Manhattan. The administration announced the decision five months ago, claiming that the MTA’s contracting process was unconstitutional because it favored women and minority-owned businesses. It is a major test of the discretion a president has to revoke previously-authorized funding. Local governments across the country heavily depend and make plans in anticipation of federal funding.
A rash of AV policy in Washington: The U.S. could be nearing a tipping point in AV regulation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is fast-tracking a review of Zoox’s request to deploy 2,500 AVs without steering wheels or gas pedals. Regulators also plan to unveil new safety guidance for AV developers, the first update since 2017. One bill that would create a national AV standard and another that would enable mass production of AVs by automakers could be folded into highway funding legislation later this year. The politics of AVs remain murky; there are advocates and detractors across the political spectrum.
What we’re reading
How can cities avoid AV-induced congestion? The most likely result of autonomous vehicles will be increased driving and increased congestion, writes David Zipper in CityLab. Let’s hope cities don’t repeat the same failed congestion relief efforts of the past century. Instead of widening roads, they need to embrace congestion pricing.
