Campus experts have joined with the mayor of San Francisco to attempt to convince the U.S. Department of Transportation that the city is the best place to invest for a 21st-century smart transit city program. Should the department choose the city as the winner of its Smart City Challenge, San Francisco — one of the seven finalist cities selected by the U.S. secretary of transportation — will receive $40 million in government funding to develop its proposal of “smart” infrastructure improvements. These plans include free wifi for neighborhoods in the city, an increase in biking provisions and an integrated travel mobility app.

According to Timothy Papandreou, the director of the Office of Innovation at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the project proposal mainly comprises improvements to San Francisco’s current transportation system. Papandreou added that the proposal is expected to reduce the city’s traffic collisions and fatalities by 10 percent by 2020.

“The current transportation system is inequitable, it’s unsafe (and) it’s alienated a lot of people who can’t afford to drive,” Papandreou said. Read more…

• San Francisco going for federal ‘smart city’ funding.

http://www.dailycal.org/2016/06/13/uc-berkeley-experts-san-francisco-petition-smart-city-funding-department-transportation/

Uber Technologies wants to work with carmakers, not build vehicles itself, Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick said, leaving open the possibility of more partnerships after last month’s agreement with Toyota Motor.

Just go to a German manufacturing facility, “and you will very quickly realise you do not want to make cars”, Kalanick said at a panel in Berlin with Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche, citing a visit to a Daimler factory near Stuttgart. Instead of seeking to acquire its own automaking capacity, he said Uber will “work with companies that make them”.

Trading compliments after riding onstage together in a yellow Cold War-era Trabant, Kalanick and Zetsche ducked questions about whether the two companies will work together. Zetsche said Daimler chose chauffeur portal Blacklane for a 2013 investment because the carmaker could have a “dominating impact”. Kalanick said he’d be glad to take Daimler’s money but wouldn’t want an investor to have such a big role.

Uber is in partnership talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The technology company is also talking to other carmakers, one of the people said. Ride-sharing apps have drawn $9 billion in funding since January 1, including Saudi Arabia’s $3.5 billion investment in Uber last week, as investors seek a stake in an industry that’s challenging the concept of car ownership.

“Car companies have realised that especially in an urban area, people don’t own a car, but they need to use one sometimes,” said Martyn Briggs, a transportation expert at Frost & Sullivan. “They’re looking at a longer-term view.”

• Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is looking at the future of transportation.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/ubers-boss-looks-to-the-future-2032629