Domo Arigato, Thursday’s Headlines
Many of the headlines are about Mr. Roboto driving taxis.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on September 24, 2026
- Waymo is partnering with Visa to reimburse customers’ transit fares (The Verge), which David Zipper and Jeff Wood both view as a mere PR move after rideshares’ long history of bait-and-switches involving being a last-mile partner for transit agencies.
- Speaking of autonomous vehicles, the Eno Center for Transportation has a lot of technical information about where regulations are headed, both in the U.S. and internationally.
- Nashville residents have seen a lot of unusual behavior from AVs since Waymos hit town. The question of who’s liable for a crash will likely result in a lot more lawsuit settlements, because gathering data from robotaxis will be expensive, and companies will want to avoid discovery, according to the Vanderbilt School of Law.
- These are not problems confined to just a few cities, as Uber plans to invest $10 billion in robotaxis over the next few years. (Axios)
- Cops are clearly not taking their Flock responsibilities seriously. (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
- A circular firing squad in the train community has erupted after someone launched a first strike against our common enemy, the running dog airlines. (Newsweek)
- The Atlanta city council voted unanimously for a resolution in support of transit along the Beltline. But when it actually comes time to fund the $3.5 billion project, will ambivalent Mayor Andre Dickens go along? (Urbanize Atlanta)
- The Charlotte city council reversed course and granted its support for adding toll lanes to I-77. (Q City Metro)
- The Texas DOT is building more roundabouts in San Antonio. (Report)
- Vision Zero remains a priority for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson even as she submitted a budget with $50 million worth of cuts. (My Northwest)
- Lincoln broke ground on a new downtown transit hub — on top of a parking lot, no less. (Journal-Star)
- Grow Omaha explains how transit-oriented development will benefit the city as its streetcar comes to fruition.
- Ann Arbor bike and pedestrian advocates are demanding safer streets. (MLive)
- To raise awareness for transit, two Atlanta college students broke a Guinness record for fastest time visiting all of a city’s transit stations. (AJC)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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