We thought about what a great time to be alive and reporting on transportation in 2022. The year was dominated by discussions about the realities of bringing self-driving cars to market, the potential upheaval of the gig worker economy, and of course, all thingsTesla.
We looked back at our top performing transportation stories to see what stood out to us.
The image is from the movie, "Argo AI."
A $1 billion investment was made in a startup that makes artificial intelligence for cars. The company is no more after Ford and Volkswagen withdrew their investments.
In the middle of testing fully self-driving technology in Miami, the company had been in the middle of running a pilot with a ride-sharing company. There will be another round of consolidation for self-driving tech companies, as well as the deployment of Level 4 self-driving technology at scale.
Both Ford and VW decided to put their investments towards more near-term paths to profitability, specifically Level 2 and Level 3 autonomy. The CEO of Ford said he didn't think the company would need to develop technology of its own.
The image is called Bolt Mobility.
The transportation mystery of the year. Bolt Mobility, the startup co-founded by Bolt, disappeared. In August, we reported that the company went missing from several U.S. markets, leaving cities with abandoned equipment and unanswered calls. Portland was left with outstanding fees.
No one was able to get in touch with the company to find out what they were going to do with the gear they left on the ground.
The company hasn't been active on social media since July, but had been on a growth streak. The startup opened up 48 new markets when it acquired the assets of Last Mile. Micromobility is a tough game to win even if you think you have a good chance.
I would love to know what happened at Bolt Mobility.
The image was created by Chrysler.
Who doesn't like a round up? At the New York auto show in April, legacy and startup showed off their electric vehicles. They got our attention this year.
Michael Gonzalez is the picture's image credit.
On the day before the Berlin gigafactory opened, CEO Musk teased the release of the third part of the master plan.
Musk said at the time that the main subjects of the company would be scaling to extreme size. I will include sections about the other companies.
Musk's other companies are included in the first part of the master plan. This was written before Musk took over.
A quick recap of the first and second parts. The first part of the proof of concept was published in 2006 and involved building a sports car and using the funds to build more affordable cars. Plans to develop battery storage and launch new models were discussed in part two.
Musk revealed more information about his plan. The plan is about how to shift the entire energy infrastructure of earth.
The image was created by Jeenah Moon.
Gas prices went up around the world earlier this year due to the war in Ukraine. In March, at the start of the war, the ride-sharing companies added fuel surcharges to rider fares in order to help drivers.
A survey done by The Rideshare Guy found that 42% of drivers quit or drove less because of high gas prices. The number was at 53% before the fuel surcharge was announced.
Many drivers said the surcharge wasn't enough and they'd like to see a per-mile surcharge to account for the increased fuel expenditure on long trips
The surcharge is an insult to drivers according to one driver
Our ability as a species to panic when prices for hot commodities increase is one of the many themes in this article.
The Department of Labor's proposed ruling on gig worker status was one of the big stories of the year. gig workers will be able to claim employment status if they can prove they are financially dependent on the company. Drivers might be praying for change on a federal level because they feel they have been shafted by macroeconomic events as well as barely protected by ride hailing companies.
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