Austin ain’t no Smart City
For the past six months Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler pushed very hard to submit a proposal to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the DOT program called “Beyond Traffic: The Smart City Challenge.”
The Smart City Challenge includes up to $40 million in Federal funding for a
mid-sized city like Austin to “conduct a Smart City demonstration” which can include programs for connected vehicles, automation, and integrating with the sharing economy for user-focused mobility.
Austin was the ideal “Smart City” and one of seven finalists. We had all of their required attributes — except one: “A commitment to integrating with the sharing economy.” As such, the grant was awarded to Columbus, Ohio. Yes the city famous for White Castle and Lane Bryant.
You may not know Columbus forced Uber and Lyft to leave their city too after the city council put in gnarly regulations including licensing and insurance requirements that the companies disliked.
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