The Next Mile: Recent Episodes
Beam Imagination
Transportation is such an underrated and typically unsexy topic, but you’re wrong. We like whining about traffic and leaving it behind with us at the watercooler, but, in reality, evolving how we move will make us a better species.
I think we’ve reached a tipping point where converging tech is going to let us take the hacksaw to our traditional transportation infrastructure.
We’ll talk to established leaders in transportation, some trail-blazing pioneers and policymakers and pundits who are all leading the charge and looking to innovate how we move – at very least they’re taking a hard, curious and revealing look at what I call the most important issue we can all do something about.
The Next Mile Podcast - presented by Beam Imagination - because the future of how we move could define what types of lives we lead.
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In today's episode of The Next Mile Podcast, Pouya Dianat is joined by Darin Givens, the cofounder of the urbanism advocacy group thread ATL, based in Atlanta. He is also the ATL urbanist and has been writing about urbanism and transportation for many years.
It was an amazing conversation as we discussed with Darin the following points:
- The difference between suburban and urban environments and how they impact our daily lives
- The design of our roads and public spaces and how it affects our behavior
- The potential for Atlanta to learn from other cities when it comes to transportation and urban design
In today's episode of The Next Mile Podcast, Pouya Dianat is joined by David Clapper, co-founder, and CEO of ScamperVan. Theirs is a company that promotes driving without a destination in mind and wonders what exploring the open road has to offer.
It was an amazing conversation as we discussed with David the following points:
- The origin of ScamperVan
- The resurgence of the van life movement and the community around it
- The healing and freeing experience of being on the open road
In today's episode of The Next Mile Podcast, Pouya Dianat is joined by Sam Schwartz, a man who has been in the transportation industry since the late 1960s. He started as a cabby from New York and rose to become the traffic commissioner and the DOT’s Chief Engineer. He popularized the term “gridlock” and changed how New Yorkers thought about traffic.
It was a fantastic conversation as we discussed with Sam the following points:
- How will autonomous vehicles affect communities?
- The poor transit system in the US
- How citizens should take a more active role in this discussion
In today's episode of The Next Mile Podcast, Pouya Dianat is joined by Jeff Lane, the director of the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. The museum focuses on unique and interesting cars, with a collection of 500 cars from all over the world.
It was an amazing conversation as we discussed with Jeff the following points:
- What does the Lane Motor Museum do?
- How cars have changed and been designed throughout history
- The different types of propulsion used in cars
- How our circumstances change how we try to travel
Connect with Jeff Lane:
Lane Museum Instagram
Just a little bit north of Atlanta, there’s a city that also works as a sandbox for technology and transportation innovation.
On any given day, the Lab, complete with infrastructure to support autonomous driving, plays host to everything from autonomous buses to teleoperated scooters as they try to create a city that gives new meaning to live, work, play.
On today’s episode, I am talking about this tech-haven, with my guest, Betsy Plattenburg, who is the executive director of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners.
Don’t miss out, on Season 2’s first episode of The Next Mile, where we have an interesting conversation about the importance of creating test platforms in the real world for the wave of oncoming change in the transportation landscape.
Questions I ask:
- What is Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners? (01:13)
- What makes a public testing sandbox an attractive draw for startups and technology companies? (04:00)
- How does AV technology force us to reconsider the design of the car? (7:58)
- How does Curiosity Labs latest test with teleoperated scooters show how quickly tech pivots and adapts? (10:01)
- What are some of the differences we’d expect to see on the roads where testing is being done versus what we’re used to? (11:45)
- What makes Curiosity Lab unique as a public government-owned entity? (15:30)
In this episode, you will learn:
- Local Motors Olli autonomous bus at the Lab (4:15)
- The five levels of autonomy (5:55)
- What Curiosity Lab looks like (11:30)
- Curiosity Labs many infrastructure partnerships (16:30)
Connect with Betsy:
- Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners
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A rare moment of widespread global uncertainty has paved the path and proved the point for one industry poised to transform how we move freight across our planet – autonomous trucking. We speak with one of the leading companies in this space, TuSimple, and their head of government and public affairs, Robert Brown.
From finding cost and time efficiencies to improving how we connect in a time of need, TuSimple’s robust sensor suite is doing more than just establishing new technology – it’s mending our planet one automated shipment at a time.
On today’s episode, we’ll explore the technology and ethos that make up TuSimple’s vision for bringing autonomy to 18-wheelers. Don’t miss out on this episode of The Next Mile, where we have a conversation about the importance of this game-changing technology to our nation’s infrastructure pipeline.
Questions I ask:
- Why was the autonomous trucking sector so much more appealing than consumer AVs?
- What is the secrete sauce that sets apart the technology being used by TuSimple?
- What are the benefits TuSimple has found so far with truck automation?
- How is TuSimple leveraging partnerships with big logistics companies to prove their position in the marketplace?
- How has the COVID-19 pandemic forced you to reimagine some of the work you are doing?
- How does TuSimple balance the need for a human workforce with automation?
Connect with Robert and TuSimple:
- TuSimple
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Sono Motors thinks we need to redesign the car. Not with what the manufacturer wants, but with what the potential buyer's demand. With a mission built around sustainability and transparency, they seek to reimagine the automobile as they know it. With solar integration to cover most of your daily driving, a low price-point, and much, much more, Sono seeks to make a car that this generation wants to own.
Other resources:
- Sono Motors Website
- Sion raises 53 million Euros in crowdfunding
- Laurin Hahn Twitter
- Update from Season 1: The Ray
Join us for the Monthly Milepost, where we break down the latest news in transportation innovation. This month, we've got rovers landing on Mars, new electric vehicles for the USPS, and new talks of high speed rail in the US.
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Civil Bikes is connecting Atlanta's past and present with historic tours throughout the city, but you won't find them sightseeing from a double decker bus. Civil Bikes is "street level", with tours being conducted on bikes and on foot. With Nedra Deadwyler at the helm, Civil Bikes is uncovering some of the city's lesser known stories and sharing them with the world so that these histories can continue to live on. In this episode Nedra discusses some of the advantages of conducting tours on bikes and the importance of keeping local histories alive.
Transportation is an intensely complex topic that we like to leave behind at the watercooler as we vent about our commutes, but we can do something about the matter at hand. Solving the Rubik's cube of travel can shape healthier lives, more connected communities and repair the chaos we've created in the world. How do I know? Well, a car accident forced me to re-evaluate how I was moving around and helped me reshape a family and neighborhood dynamic that left me happier.
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Transportation is such an underrated and typically unsexy topic, but you’re wrong. We like whining about traffic and leaving it behind with us at the watercooler, but, in reality, evolving how we move will make us a better species.
The Next Mile Podcast - presented by Beam Imagination - because the future of how we move could define what types of lives we lead. Available on your favourite podcast player.