Our Authors

Scouring the news for interesting articles on robotaxis.

Transportation and disability advocate. Created and administer the site Robotaxi.rodeo . Co-founded Walk San Francisco (walkSF.org), Swiftly (goSwift.ly), and NextBus (NextBus.com). Working to make transportation accessible and safe for all. Been disabled by serious long COVID since 2022.

The Dawn Project was founded by Dan O’Dowd, the world’s leading expert in creating software that never fails and can’t be hacked. Dan created the secure operating systems for projects including Boeing’s 787s, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Fighter Jets, the Boeing B1-B Intercontinental Nuclear Bomber, and NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Dan has been a pioneer of making safety-critical software systems unhackable since his days at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Dan graduated from Caltech in 1976 with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering. Now Dan is a recipient of the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award, which is the highest honorary which Caltech bestows upon a graduate. Dan’s expertise in creating the most secure operating systems in the world led him to found The Dawn Project, which is dedicated to making computers truly safe for humanity.

No time to wait for Joe Manchin. Battling our climate emergency one air-dried laundry item at a time.

SafeStreetRebel is a decentralized group of activists. Due to the varying background of the group there is not one single reason for joining. We fight for car-free spaces, transit equity, and the end of car dominance. People, community, and park space must be prioritized over polluting, dangerous & murderous vehicles.

For the past eight years, I’ve been calling out the tech industry, its snake-oil billionaires, and the harmful impacts it hides behind its grand promises. I’ve been a critical voice on a sector that too often gets a pass by distracting us with futures that never arrive. But it’s not always easy to get those perspectives published by media have tended to praise Silicon Valley far more than call it out. With Disconnect, I’m providing a different take on the tech industry — a critical perspective that’s too hard to find among mainstream sources. It’s one that isn’t afraid to reject what the tech industry is trying to sell us. I hope you’ll join me!

Robotics, automation, and startup person. Mostly concerned with getting accurate information out to the public. But also wants to make sure that the technology is developed properly. If people in the business knew who I was they might not talk with me, so therefore I’m (semi) anonymous.

Cecelia Black is a quadriplegic and wheelchair user. She is a transit organizer for Disability Mobility Initiative at Disability Rights Washington. Black is a photographer and founder of Access Test Collective, a multimedia art project focused on sidewalk accessibility. Black has a masters in public policy and is board president of Be:Seattle, a tenants’ rights organization in Seattle. Anna Zivarts is a low-vision mom and nondriver who was born with the neurological condition nystagmus. She directs the Disability Mobility Initiative at DIsability Rights Washington and launched the #WeekWithoutDriving challenge. Zivarts serves on the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium advisory board and the National Safety Council Mobility Safety Advisory Group. She is publishing a book with Island Press about the expertise of nondrivers.

David Zipper is a Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, where he examines the interplay between transportation policy, technology, and society. David’s perspectives are rooted in his experience working within city hall as well as being a venture capitalist and startup advisor. He has consulted with numerous startups and public officials about regulatory strategy. A Contributing Writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab, David’s writing has been published in outlets including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, and Fast Company. His stories focus on topics including road safety, climate change, and the future of American public transit. In 2023, David received a Heinrich Boll Foundation fellowship to write a skeptical exploration of Norway’s electric car subsidies, which was Vox Future Perfect’s most read story of the year. He has spoken at events including the Consumer Electronics Show, SXSW, and the FIA Conference.

E.W. Niedermeyer has been writing and commenting on the auto industry and mobility technology since 2008. His coverage of the auto bailout led to a series of Op-Eds in the New York Times starting in 2009, and his work has subsequently been featured in Bloomberg Opinion, the Wall Street Journal, Automotive News, Slate, and elsewhere. He is the cohost of the podcast The Autonocast, and the author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Send him an email: edward [dot] niedermeyer [at] gmail [dot] com