Uber's AI anxiety
If China’s confidence in autonomous vehicles was shaken by Baidu’s power outage fiasco in April, it wasn’t irrevocably shaken: Pony.ai says it is business as usual and that it plans to double its domestic robotaxi fleet by the end of the year. On this side of the Pacific, Uber appears to be having second thoughts about its AI spending. San Franciscans will vote on whether to impose a new sales tax to save their transit system. It’s too bad it can’t just be funded from scooter fines. Finally, Phoenix shows why people in hot climates should be especially opposed to parking requirements.
What you need to know
Uber’s bloated AI budget: Uber COO Andrew Macdonald suggests the ride-hail giant is not getting a good return for its massive AI spending. The company reportedly blew through its 2026 budget for Claude Code in just the first four months of the year and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said recently that the company had reduced hiring to help offset its mounting investments in AI. Macdonald is not convinced that shrinking the workforce to accommodate more AI is the wise move : “We’re going to have to start talking about token consumption and the associated cost versus headcount. So if you’re not actually able to draw a direct line to how much useful features and functionality you’re shipping to your users, that trade becomes harder to justify.”
China’s non-pause on AVs: Autonomous vehicle developer Pony.ai plans to double its robotaxi fleet in China from roughly 1,700 to 3,500 by the end of the year. The Toyota-backed Chinese startup tells Reuters it is unaffected by the reported suspension of new AV permits put in place last month by the Chinese government after scores of vehicles operated by Baidu suddenly stalled during a power outage.
A violent clash of modes in Sweden: A self-driving bus was rear-ended by a tram in only its first hour of operation in Gothenburg, Sweden. No injuries were reported and the preliminary analysis appears to place the blame on the tram, rather than the driverless bus built by Turkey-based Karsan. This is a good reminder not to assume that a crash involving an AV is the AV’s fault!
Signing up for transit: Transit advocates in San Francisco have collected 300,000 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot to create a half-cent sales tax to fund the largest transit agencies in the Bay Area. This is not so much an ambitious effort to expand the system as a desperate measure to save it from devastating cuts wrought by the enduring post-pandemic ridership decline.
A big scooter bill: The city of Sacramento billed Lime, Bird and other micromobility operators over $150,000 for misparked scooters last year. It was up to the operators themselves to pass the fines ($27.50 per offense) to the users.
Cities on the Move: Mega-Events, AI & Shaping What’s Next
CoMotion LA is back and bigger than ever this Nov. 18-19 for a very special 10th edition featuring the OMF Summit Track.
Join 120+ speakers and 1,200+ mobility experts from around the world in the City of Angels to explore how major global events and emerging technologies are accelerating mobility innovation. View speakers.
Why wait? Secure the Super Early Bird price today.
What we’re reading
The consequences of abundant parking: Consider the following facts: Phoenix, Ariz. has 4.3 parking spaces per vehicle and they account for roughly 10% of the city’s area. Writing for StreetsBlog, Bryce Cristiano, a Phoenix journalist and policy analyst, describes the profound effect that all of that vacant asphalt has on local climate. As you can probably guess, it certainly doesn’t make Phoenix any cooler.
