Weekly Wisdom | Transportation Trends
Reasons for Optimism
Drive through downtown Sarasota or I-75 during rush hour, and you’ll regret it. Unfortunately, long, dangerous commutes are what most Americans experience in a decent-sized American city. Along with other poor infrastructure, the United States’ transportation system is in bad condition. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the Trump administration and superstar CEOs, traffic conditions nationwide should improve in the years ahead. Let’s look at the policies and technologies driving the needed, fundamental changes.
Below is a quick overview:
Between Waymo, Tesla, and Nvidia’s capabilities, self-driving technology is rapidly improving, and robotaxis are being rolled out across the country. A prior Weekly Wisdom noted both the significant health and economic benefits of robotaxis and self-driving automobiles. The Trump administration reduced and standardized regulations around autonomous vehicles in September of last year. Currently, Waymo is expanding into additional cities, and Nvidia just announced technology partnerships with over 10 major automotive manufacturers in the self-driving space.
Like the United States military, drones are playing an increasingly important role in delivery and logistics. Consider the case of Zipline, a drone startup that delivers packages to subscribers’ front or rear porches/yards. This caught the eye of Secretary Lutnick, who just visited their manufacturing facility a few days ago. And Walmart has already deployed Zipline in limited markets for its Walmart+ members.
The Trump administration just announced the eIPP Program. Launched in 26 states in partnership with Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, this program aims to accelerate testing of eVTOLs, which are essentially flying cars. The purpose is to ensure American leadership in transportation technology and to ease congestion in the biggest cities. For example, using an eVTOL, downtown NYC to JFK will only take 15 minutes, rather than 2 hours.
The Boring Company, one of Elon Musk’s companies, has started building the Music City Loop in Nashville, which will connect downtown Nashville to the airport. In addition, the existing Boring Company loops in Las Vegas are being expanded to more hotels and businesses. In time, there will be an entire subterranean transportation system in Las Vegas due to the Boring Company’s efforts. Again, this new infrastructure will alleviate congestion where it is needed most.
The U.S. Department of Transportation just announced the Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Challenge, which awards participants cash prizes in 3 categories for the most beautiful transportation infrastructure designs. This initiative fits in with President Trump’s overall desire to beautify America with classical architecture and new historic monuments.
President Trump’s tech-oriented administration is enabling the most ambitious and talented entrepreneurs in America to create new transportation infrastructure and modes of travel. And with an emphasis on thoughtful infrastructure design, we can remain hopeful that we will arrive at our upcoming destinations, enjoying more beautiful infrastructure along the way and getting there faster, safer, and more cheaply. The future of travel is bright!
