This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Smart Cities Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: - Driverless Tesla Model Y robotaxis are providing rides in Austin, Texas, and Miami, Orlando and Tampa, Florida, as of this month, the company said in its Q2 2026 update. - Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company's July 22 earnings call that it is growing the robotaxi fleet and adding cities "as fast as humanly possible" while focusing on safety. - Employee rides in Tesla's purpose-built Cybercab began at its Austin factory, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said on the call. The company is working with federal regulators and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet federal motor vehicle safety standards, Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said during the call. Dive Insight: Tesla anticipates growing its robotaxi fleet while entering into new U.S. markets this year, Taneja said. "Robotaxi growth, so far, has been literally exponential while keeping an impeccable safety record," Tesla Executive Officer Ashok Elluswamy said on the call. "We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised robotaxis now across six cities in two different states," Elluswamy said. "We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other [vehicles] impacting us when we were stationary." In comparison, Waymo said it had completed 220 million miles without a driver at the wheel as of March 2026. The company said that, compared with cars with a human driver, it has been involved in 94% fewer injury crashes and 93% fewer pedestrian injury crashes in the cities where it operates. Waymo says it's serving riders in 11 U.S. cities and the greater San Francisco Bay Area; another 20 U.S. cities are on its "up next" list.
Jul 23, 2026 · via autos.yahoo.com
South Pole Q&A: The Demand for Energy Transition Consulting In 2026, businesses are navigating a labyrinth of challenges when it comes to energy and sustainability. They have to deal with tightening regulations, volatile geopolitics and scrutiny from investors, all while trying to keep the lights on. Charting a route through this complexity requires not only ambition, but specialist guidance. That is where firms like South Pole come in, helping organisations translate climate commitments into workable, science-based strategies. Energy Digital sat down with Rob Ellinson, Senior Managing Consultant and Sector Lead at South Pole, to discuss what companies are grappling with as they build transition plans, how energy security is reshaping priorities and why the cost of inaction is becoming impossible to ignore. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your role at South Pole. I’m Rob Ellinson, a Senior Managing Consultant leading South Pole’s energy sector practice. I work with energy and utilities companies to help them understand and manage climate risks, strengthen resilience, and develop credible climate transition plans. On top of coordinating the expertise of our energy and topic specialists, the majority of my day is spent supporting organisations as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition. In practice, that means helping clients assess the impacts of physical and transition risks, integrate climate considerations into their investment and business planning, develop science-based decarbonisation strategies, meet regulatory and stakeholder expectations, and build the business case for long-term value and competitiveness. For readers unfamiliar with South Pole, can you explain the kind of work the firm does? South Pole helps organisations turn climate and sustainability ambitions into real-world action. We work across three core areas: - Environmental Certificates – connecting clients with high-impact climate and nature projects that deliver measurable environmental benefits - Climate Consulting – helping
Jul 23, 2026 · via energydigital.com
The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) is leading a Smart Signals Project to upgrade about 365 intersections along key arterials known as Routes of Regional Significance, across Contra Costa County’s 19 cities and unincorporated areas. “We cannot simply build our way out of congestion,” Tim Haile, CCTA executive director, said in an email. “We also have to operate the transportation system we already have more intelligently. That requires connected infrastructure, real-time information and the ability to work across jurisdictional lines.” Contra Costa County is home to nearly 1.2 million residents on the eastern side of the greater Bay Area metro region. Like many parts of the Bay Area, it is plagued by traffic congestion and is turning to innovations in traffic management, transit and other approaches to improve mobility, rather than building new roads. The county has about 1,200 signalized intersections. “Cities and towns across Contra Costa County have been steadily investing in smarter signal technology for years, but those efforts have largely been local,” Haile said. “This is the first time we are bringing all 19 cities and towns and the unincorporated county together in a coordinated, countywide effort designed to benefit the entire region.” CCTA is establishing a Transportation Management Center (TMC), which will provide a central operating environment where the agency can view and analyze information shared by participating jurisdictions and develop a countywide picture of traffic conditions, Andy Dillard, CCTA senior engineer, said. Under this arrangement, local jurisdictions continue to operate their own signal systems, while a center-to-center connection will allow those systems to share information with CCTA as upgraded intersections come online. CCTA has begun purchasing the needed equipment and plans to begin deploying it in October, officials said. Integration with the TMC will occur as intersections come online rather than waiting until every installation
Jul 23, 2026 · via govtech.com
Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa) attended Rock in Rio Lisboa 2026 as part of ULisboa’s presence, contributing to the first edition of Smart City of Rock, an innovation platform that enabled festival visitors to experience virtual reality technologies, learn about advanced applications of robotics and discover entrepreneurial initiatives developed at Técnico and at ULisboa. Among the demonstrations presented was the “Reabi(li)tar edifícios subutilizados, reabitar a cidade”, a project by the Centre for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism and Architecture (CiTUA) that uses virtual reality to explore possibilities for reusing vacant buildings. The experience invited visitors to reflect on the role of urban rehabilitation in addressing housing challenges, regenerating cities and creating more inclusive and sustainable spaces. The “Echo of the Abyss” project, which involves the participation of researchers from the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI), took the public on a journey through deep-sea ecosystems. The project sought to bring visitors closer to one of the least-known environments on the planet, using technology as a way to promote new relationships between human beings and the natural world. Robotics was represented by Rocky, a project associated with Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA). This quadruped robotic platform demonstrated the potential of autonomous robots for environmental monitoring and data collection in complex or hard-to-reach environments, with applications in areas such as air quality, geophysical prospecting and data collection in industrial and environmental contexts. Smart City of Rock: a living laboratory for testing the future Técnico’s presence also extended to the entrepreneurship and technology transfer dimension of Smart City of Rock. Universidade de Lisboa was the first partner university in this innovation platform, which aimed to transform the “City of Rock” into a genuine living laboratory for testing technological solutions in a real-world context. In an environment that welcomed over 100,000 visitors every
Jul 22, 2026 · via tecnico.ulisboa.pt
The average family in Ibadan, one of Nigeria's largest cities, spends nearly half its income not on food, rent, or school fees — but on surviving a broken infrastructure system. Buying water from street vendors costs them ten times more than if their home was serviced with piped water. Running a generator to make up for frequent power outages eats further into their budget. Paying unregulated minibus fares to get around drives up their costs even more. Across the continent, this is not unusual. According to the World Bank Group's Africa's Cities: Opening Doors to the World report, African urban households pay 20 to 31% more for goods and services than city dwellers in other developing countries due to their cities’ lack of dense spatial form and infrastructure connections. Missing infrastructure is a regressive tax, driving up poor households’ costs and affecting businesses’ productivity and growth. Therein lies the opportunity: building that missing infrastructure, cleanly, is one of the most powerful ways to make urban life more affordable in developing economies. This would help make cities greener and to reduce their emissions — while also creating more and better jobs for Africa’s growing urban population. Modeling the Path to Green, Affordable Cities This is where the World Bank Group's APEX platform can help. Developed by a team at the International Finance Corporation, APEX — Advanced Practices for Environmental Excellence in Cities — is a data-driven tool that supports city planners to model their environmental footprint, simulate the impact of green investments, and estimate costs and emissions reductions. Using APEX insights, cities can develop “Green City Action Plans” to map out and sequence investments across energy, water, transport, and waste. In Nigerian cities, for example, APEX analysis shows that building clean infrastructure could help households to increase their savings from 0%
Jul 22, 2026 · via blogs.worldbank.org
Smart-city program helps flag storm risks in Santiago Se Santiago, a smart city program of Corfo Metropolitano, brings together 180 technological solutions for the urban challenges of the Metropolitan Region. Part of this infrastructure was put to the test this month by a frontal system that affected Chile, left more than 600,000 customers without electricity and triggered evacuations in the center and north of the country. BNamericas spoke with Solange Arredondo, manager of Se Santiago, about Santiago’s resilient infrastructure, the role of technology in risk prevention and the financing models to scale the program to the region’s 52 municipalities. BNamericas: What are the main challenges today for infrastructure and essential services, and what is Sé Santiago working on to make infrastructure more resilient? Arredondo: Sé Santiago is a program of Corfo Metropolitano, which shows where the focus of our work lies. Corfo is a public agency that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, with a role in accelerating industries that are relevant at the national level, such as tourism or green hydrogen, and in the case of the Metropolitan Region, what we now call smart city. The program seeks to make Santiago a smarter city, with a focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. But we do not understand a smart city merely as a city full of sensors or cameras, but as one that addresses the pains it has, just as governor [Claudio] Orrego describes them. We identify at least three or four, which are also reflected in Santiago’s Regional Development Strategy. The first is territorial fragmentation: we have an administrative model with 52 municipalities in the Metropolitan Region, and each one is an island that autonomously decides what cameras it installs, what type of bike lane or what lighting it uses. The Government of Santiago, through its strategy and its own
Jul 22, 2026 · via bnamericas.com
Dive Brief: - North Carolina this month passed legislation that prohibits local governments from requiring a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for new developments in most of the state, excluding municipalities on the coast. - Gov. Josh Stein called the law “another tool in the tool box” to build more housing and make housing more affordable in the state. “This change will lower rents for people,” Stein said in a July 6 news release. - The state joins a growing number of local governments that are reducing or eliminating parking mandates to encourage more housing development, including Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina. Dive Insight: While thousands of local governments have embraced parking minimum reforms, statewide measures are also ramping up. California banned parking minimums for new developments in 2022 for projects located within a half-mile radius of a major transit stop. Washington last year passed a parking reform measure that prevents some local governments from requiring more than half a parking space per multifamily unit or more than one parking space per single-family unit. A single parking space can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new housing development and take up land that could otherwise be used for more housing, experts say. “Parking reform — often the elimination or sharp reduction of minimum parking requirements — has proven to be one of the most impactful and widely adopted tools for improving project feasibility, particularly for infill and small-scale development,” Nicholas Julian, director of land use at the National Association of Home Builders, said in an email to Smart Cities Dive. North Carolina’s legislation takes effect in January 2027.
Jul 22, 2026 · via smartcitiesdive.com
The U.S. is in a “heatshed moment,” says Ladd Keith, director of the University of Arizona’s Heat Resilience Institute: “a critical turning point in which heat must be rapidly addressed to protect health and livelihoods worldwide,” he wrote in a Journal of Urban Affairs commentary in April. “Our cities were built for a climate that no longer exists,” Keith said in a recent interview with Smart Cities Dive. “Cities aren’t ready for the heat we're experiencing this year, and they won't be ready for the heat that we experience in a decade from now. We really need to move more quickly to retrofit our cities and adapt them for the climate that we will be experiencing in the future and that we're already experiencing right now.” Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. SMART CITIES DIVE: You’ve said extreme heat is an invisible issue. Are city officials starting to understand its importance? LADD KEITH: 100%. I've been working on extreme heat for over 15 years, and it wasn't until 2021 or so, with the Pacific Northwest heatwave in America, that cities started taking it seriously. Why does heat get less policy attention than floods, hurricanes and wildfires? Those other hazards do harm to human life — obviously quite a lot — but they also harm property. In the United States, we care a lot about property and infrastructure. We have insurance; we have lots of money tied up in those things. And unfortunately, it seems, based on the money that we spend, that we care a little bit less about human life and quality of life and health. Are cities making meaningful progress on heat resilience? If you looked at the United States 10 years ago, most governments didn't recognize heat as something they even
Jul 22, 2026 · via smartcitiesdive.com
Dive Brief: - Seven emergency service districts in Northwest Harris County, Texas, will install smart traffic signals at 437 intersections to give green signals to emergency vehicles. - Cameras will detect emergency vehicles as they approach an intersection, reducing response time and intersection collisions, according to a press release from Miovision, a traffic technology company. The system also improves protection for pedestrians and cyclists, the company says. - The company will upgrade an older system under a 12-year agreement with the ESDs. Dive Insight: Hurricane Harvey, which hit southeastern Texas in August 2017, flooded some 25% of Harris County’s intersections, which had emergency vehicle priority systems installed in 2007. Following that, the seven ESDs contracted with Miovision to install its traffic vehicle preemption system. The new agreement will use technology already installed in the counties’ emergency vehicles. “The fact that we don’t need resources committed to supporting the day-to-day operation of the system is a godsend because in public safety, you never have enough money and you never have enough people,” Harris County ESD Number 16 Project Manager Mike Pate said in a statement. Most signaled intersections in the U.S. typically have a control cabinet, with pre-programmed timing. Some include vehicle detectors within the pavement that can help adjust timing based on traffic conditions. But smart intersections are the future, experts say. “What's coming is ultimately going to be a full digitization of the intersection,” Miovision CEO Kurtis McBride told Smart Cities Dive. He foresees connected and autonomous vehicles, providing “more situational awareness beyond just traffic.” McBride said Miovision has over 100,000 intersections connected to its system. “We generally see anywhere from a 10% to 30% improvement in stop delays” where its technology is installed, he said. The company announced on July 6 a program that brings together myriad traffic
Jul 22, 2026 · via smartcitiesdive.com
Refugees in the City: How Humanitarian Migration Transforms Urban Areas Highlights Refugees reshape cities; they may strain services in the short term but offer long-run potential for new economic, civic, and demographic vitalization depending on responses by local leaders. - Humanitarian inflows differ from other migration in terms of the speed and scale of arrivals, presence of aid, camp spillovers, and shifting public attitudes. - Large arrivals can deepen inequality and tensions in poorer neighborhoods, yet also catalyze investment, services, and neighborhood revitalization. - Refugees often help revive shrinking towns and urban districts, but their contributions depend heavily on city leadership, planning, and funding. When people flee conflicts and other crises, most of them go to cities. Worldwide, approximately 70 percent of refugees live in urban areas, as do more than 40 percent of internally displaced people (IDPs).1 For many forced migrants, cities offer protection and hope for a brighter future. But the arrival especially of large numbers of refugees can also transform cities in positive and negative ways, by altering urban demographics and social cohesion; creating new demands for services, housing, and jobs; and by bringing new financial, skills, and other resources. These changes can either strain the host city or help it blossom. Recent displacement crises have shown that hosts’ initially positive response to displaced people can change if the cities are unable to provide the services and support that individuals—humanitarian migrants and long-term residents alike—need over the long term. Often, large-scale humanitarian migration exacerbates underlying urban tensions, which can create new animosities. Because refugees and IDPs often arrive suddenly and in large numbers, their arrival and continuing presence pose specific challenges for city leaders. This article, based in part on the author’s book, Host Cities: How Refugees Are Transforming the World’s Urban Settings, explores how humanitarian influxes
Jul 22, 2026 · via migrationpolicy.org
Srinagar, Jul 21: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) has welcomed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's assurance that traders whose shops, business establishments and goods were damaged due to waterlogging during the recent rains in Srinagar will be adequately compensated. In a statement, the Chamber said the announcement provides much-needed relief to the affected trading community, which suffered significant losses as several commercial areas remained inundated following a couple of hours of rain. KCCI also welcomed the Chief Minister's decision to subject the Smart City projects to a third-party audit. The Chamber said it has consistently been advocating for an independent technical audit of the inadequately designed drainage and stormwater network, as recurring incidents of waterlogging have exposed serious shortcomings in the planning, design and execution of the drainage infrastructure. The Chamber reiterated that a comprehensive technical audit should not be confined to the faulty Smart City projects alone but should extend to the entire drainage network across Srinagar and other urban centres in Kashmir. It said the Government must undertake a scientific assessment of the existing drainage infrastructure, identify the gaps in it and implement a comprehensive upgradation plan to ensure that cities are equipped to handle increasingly intense rainfall events. KCCI further stressed that every major infrastructure and urban development project undertaken by the Government should be preceded by a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and all necessary environmental clearances. Development projects, it said, must be in harmony with the region's natural drainage systems, rivers , wetlands, water bodies and ecological landscape, rather than disrupting them. The Chamber observed that the increasing frequency of flash floods, urban flooding and extreme weather events clearly demonstrate the growing impact of climate change on Jammu & Kashmir. This makes it imperative that all future planning incorporates climate resilience, scientific hydrological
Jul 22, 2026 · via greaterkashmir.com
Beijing Forum advances China–Central Asia Digital Cooperation Beijing - The 2026 Global Digital Economy Conference Digital Central Asia International Cooperation Forum was recently held in Beijing, highlighting new opportunities for cooperation between China and Central Asian countries in smart cities, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies, Qazinform News Agency reports. Under the theme “Connecting Central Asia via Data, Empowering the Future with Intelligence,” the forum aimed to advance practical cooperation under the China-Central Asia Mechanism and transform shared digital-development goals into concrete projects. The event presented a range of technological applications, including AI-powered Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic systems, AI portrait-generation tools and industrial robots. The exhibits demonstrated how digital technologies can improve healthcare, manufacturing and everyday urban services. The forum also provided a platform for exchanges among governments, cities and businesses. Participants discussed how China’s experience in digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence and smart-city development could support Central Asia’s growing demand for digital transformation. Kazakhstan is already emerging as an important regional partner in this field. The country has introduced the Digital Tenge and is developing Alatau City as a digitally enabled smart city. These initiatives create further opportunities for cooperation with China in digital finance, intelligent urban management and technology-driven public services. A follow-up session connected with the Digital Central Asia cooperation initiative is scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan in October 2026. The meeting is expected to continue discussions launched in Beijing and promote direct cooperation between Chinese technology companies and Central Asian partners. From Beijing to Kazakhstan and across the wider region, digital cooperation is becoming an increasingly important part of the China-Central Asia partnership, contributing to regional connectivity, innovation and mutually beneficial development.
Jul 22, 2026 · via qazinform.com
FOR REVIEW Boldyn Networks and Sunderland City Council’s long term partnership aims to create the UK’s smartest city, where no one is left behind, says Boldyn’s Danny Kelly Long-term relationships deliver results. Our seven-year partnership with Sunderland City Council is benefiting citizens, start-ups, patients and even the venerable football club of the city in the North East. Over the seven-year period, the council has deployed smart city technologies and infrastructure to improve operations and pave the way for delivering innovative, inclusive, city-wide services into the future. Speaking at UKAuthorITty’s Smart Places & Connected Communities virtual event, alongside Liz St Louis, Sunderland’s director for smart cities, we mapped out how the partnership has been able to take the long view, rather than focus on short term returns, the benefits this had delivered and the possibilities this has opened up. Sunderland has used digital as ‘the new town hall’, bringing its communities together via digital interaction. A set of immersive and interactive exhibitions that use the digital infrastructure investments bring people together, creating what St Louis describes as a ‘vibrant’ city. But it's not just about having fun, important as that is; the same approach to digital has been used to create 37 digital hubs across the city in connected voluntary and community buildings. These hubs spread digital literacy and skills to the city’s residents, helping them with downloading and using the NHS app for example, completing online job applications and learning the digital life skills of our modern world. St Louis believes this not only creates safer and better communities but drives economic growth. Local employers benefit too. Automotive firm Nissan has a major factory in the city and also utilises the nearby port for importing and exporting, and Sunderland is assessing ways to use automation technology on the routes between
Jul 22, 2026 · via ukauthority.com
Using Flexible Funding in Long-Horizon Urban Transformation Work: Evidence from the WRI Ross Center Deep Dive Initiative This paper discusses how one non-governmental organization, World Resources Institute, used flexible funding to further transformation in cities. It reveals four ways flexible funding was deployed by WRI Ross Center's Deep Dive Initiative, the possible tensions that can emerge when blending flexible funding with project-based funds, and surfaces a set of “practice questions” to consider as organizations manage flexible funding. In the work of urban-focused non-governmental organizations (NGOs), funding structures dominated by tightly programmed funds are often mismatched to the non-linear nature of urban transformation work in practice. To illustrate the potential of alternative blended approaches, the paper analyzes how flexible, multi-year funding (not directly tied to predefined activities or timelines) can be used alongside project grants to support urban transformation amid political and institutional uncertainty. Based on WRI Ross Center’s six-year Deep Dive Initiative across 21 cities, the paper offers insights relevant to peer organizations operating in similar institutional and mixed funding contexts. Across cases, flexible funding was blended with programmed funds in four recurring modes, which allowed teams to make frequent adjustments in response to changing political conditions, partner readiness, or emerging opportunities by adapting the timing, sequencing, and scope of the work. - Seed funding: early exploration, relationship-building, and strategic entry - Add-on funding: layer on adjacent agendas and research onto existing work - Policy lifecycle funding: support early implementation after policy adoption - Gap funding: sustain engagement through interruptions or uncertainty Using flexible funding blended with programmed funds offers many benefits as well as introducing new organizational trade-offs that must be actively managed. These include a continued need for clear purpose and strategy, learning and accountability routines, and honesty about organizational capacity to navigate potential tensions that flexible funding
Jul 22, 2026 · via wri.org
University of Moncton The University of Moncton led an initiative with the cities of Moncton and Dieppe to use virtual twins experience to drive sustainable urban development. Smart City Planning Tackles Urban Growth Around the world, city populations keep growing and with that so do pressures on housing, transportation, urban infrastructure and the natural environment. In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the cities of Moncton and Dieppe are all too familiar with these challenges as years of rapid growth test the limits of what existing housing, roads and green space can absorb. “Moncton is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the country and it’s putting real pressure on where and how we accommodate people,” said Josh Davies, manager of long-range policy planning at the City of Moncton. “Affordable housing is a major challenge, especially as construction and labor costs continue to rise.” Densification is one way for cities to grow sustainably. Instead of expanding outwards, the idea is to concentrate development. Compact urban areas (also described as 15-minute cities) bring housing, services and employment closer together to help reduce car dependency, lower emissions and make better use of existing infrastructure. They also address housing supply issues in areas where land is finite and construction costs are high. It’s important we plan future development carefully. This project is designed to study urban densification and our role at the university is to apply the expertise of our students and faculty to create a virtual twin of the region. “We’re looking at areas like the Mountain Road transit corridor in Moncton to understand what density should look like,” Davies said. “If buildings are constructed closer to the street, how high should they be? What are the parking ratios? What should they look like from the street and how will they affect
Jul 22, 2026 · via 3ds.com
Egypt has developed 39 new cities over the past decade as part of its urban expansion strategy, with the New Administrative Capital emerging as the country’s flagship smart city and a model for investment-led development, Deputy Minister of Housing for New Urban Communities Walid Abbas said on Monday. Speaking at the opening of Capital Forum 2026, held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Abbas described the New Capital as an unprecedented urban development project that reflects Egypt’s ability to implement its Vision 2030 strategy while creating a globally competitive destination for investment and business. “The New Capital is more than a new city; it is an integrated investment and development model that has strengthened Egypt’s position in smart urban development,” Abbas said. He added that investment in the new cities extends well beyond real estate to encompass digital infrastructure, job creation, and the attraction of both domestic and foreign direct investment, while expanding opportunities for private sector participation. According to Abbas, Egypt’s urban development programme has included the construction of 39 new cities, supported by smart infrastructure and an extensive national road network designed to improve connectivity, enhance quality of life, and promote sustainable economic growth. In a separate address delivered on behalf of Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) Chairperson Khaled Abbas, ACUD General Manager Ahmed Fahmy said close cooperation between state institutions and the private sector has been instrumental in transforming ambitious development plans into tangible achievements. Fahmy noted that, ten years after its launch, the New Capital is entering a new phase focused on strengthening its competitiveness, attracting additional investment, and reinforcing its position as a regional hub for business, finance and innovation. He added that the city is also well positioned to export Egyptian expertise in the development and management of modern cities, reflecting
Jul 21, 2026 · via dailynewsegypt.com
“Optimism alone, cannot save lives,” Anderson Abernathy, president and chief operating officer for Michelin Mobility Intelligence, North America, said. “Continued progress will require us to collaborate ... and ultimately [using] data-driven insights to not only understand the risks of yesterday, but we think, [prevent] the risks of tomorrow,” he said Thursday during a panel examining the latest national data around pedestrian and vehicle fatalities. The event was organized by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which recently released its Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State data. Some 6,732 people were struck and killed by motorists on U.S. roadways in 2025, a 7 percent decline from the year before, according to preliminary GHSA data, marking the largest annual reduction since this metric began falling three years ago. The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles is still higher than it was in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. “So there’s still significant work for us to do,” Abernathy said. “The next step really is making sure today’s transportation leaders have access to technology tools, and insights that help them identify and prioritize the risks of where they [accidents involving pedestrians] happen.” (Michelin Mobility Intelligence provided financial support for the GHSA report.) Real-time data can provide insights into dangerous intersections and other problem areas, allowing transportation officials to target them for safety remediations, experts said. Paula Raymond, director of behavioral science at toXcel, a transportation statistics analysis firm, said she would like to see more data related to first responders at crash sites, telematics and drug and alcohol impairment. “Speed data is incredibly important. We know that speed kills,” she said during the panel. When it comes to impairment, the data shows pedestrians — not drivers — have higher levels of alcohol or drug impairment. “Now, I am not interested in blaming the victim, at
Jul 21, 2026 · via govtech.com
Gasgoo Munich- RoboSense has forged a strategic partnership with Origen, an AI-native technology company based in the United Arab Emirates. The agreement was signed on July 20 during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). Leveraging RoboSense's leadership in 3D perception, mass production, and market presence, the partnership combines Origen's deep expertise in AI-native solutions and industrial resources across the Middle East. Together, the companies aim to drive the development of embodied and spatial intelligence ecosystems, accelerating the deployment of AI systems that integrate robotics, sensors, and automation platforms in the physical world. Image source: RoboSense As a key driver for embodied intelligence deployment in the Middle East, Origen focuses on building end-to-end AI-native solutions designed for real-world industrial applications. The company empowers digital infrastructure across smart cities, green energy, public services, intelligent manufacturing, and corporate operations. Origen's portfolio includes the smart home system DOMIA, the digital twin-based city operating system SpatialWare, the spatial intelligence platform StellaWare, and enterprise AI agents. By combining local insights with global standards, Origen leverages advanced AI technology and broad partnerships to scale projects from pilots to full commercial deployment. RoboSense is a robotics platform company targeting Physical AI. Powered by proprietary core chips, a digital perception product matrix, and mass production capabilities, it provides the essential components and infrastructure robots need to navigate the physical world. Its products are already widely used in over a dozen sectors, including humanoid robots, quadrupeds, and commercial cleaning robots, continuously accelerating commercial deployment and intelligent evolution across the robotics industry. Notably, RoboSense unveiled the E2 — its second-generation solid-state perception platform built on the in-house "Peacock" SPAD-SoC chip — at WAIC 2026. The company also showcased a suite of digital LiDARs and fusion sensors based on its "Peacock" and "Phoenix" SPAD-SoC chips, presenting a complete technology chain that
Jul 21, 2026 · via autonews.gasgoo.com
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Jul 21, 2026 · via youtube.com
Smart Cities Bilbao’s Lessons for Smarter Cities For decades, Bilbao was defined by heavy industry, shipbuilding and port activities. The industrial crisis of the 1980s, combined with environmental degradation, rising unemployment and the devastating floods of 1983, forced the city to rethink its urban and economic model. Today, Bilbao's transformation offers valuable lessons for cities across Mexico and Central America. A smart city does not begin with technology—it begins with a shared vision, institutions capable of sustaining it, and public policies centered on people. A Long-Term Vision Our visit to Bilbao made it clear that its transformation was not the result of isolated projects. It was built upon a long-term strategic plan supported by different levels of government and implemented through specialized institutions. This consensus made it possible to convert former industrial sites and contaminated land into public spaces, housing, cultural facilities and new economic districts. For Latin America, where urban policies often change with each administration, the main lesson is straightforward: continuity is essential for transforming a city. Mobility as a Tool to Improve Quality of Life Bilbao stopped viewing mobility simply as a way to move people. Instead, it became a tool to reclaim public space and improve everyday life. The city was among the first to introduce a 30 km/h speed limit across much of its urban area, reducing accidents, noise and emissions while encouraging local commerce and more walkable streets. At the same time, Bilbao expanded public transport, cycling infrastructure and underground parking facilities. The goal was never to ban cars, but to provide enough alternatives so that driving would become a choice rather than a necessity. An Accessible City for Everyone Accessibility became a central priority in response to both Bilbao's aging population and its hilly geography. Urban elevators, ramps, escalators and funiculars connect neighborhoods
Jul 21, 2026 · via freiheit.org