Urban Planning

The state department of transportation has done an environmental assessment and is seeking comment on proposed self-driving vehicle lanes from Ann Arbor to Detroit. One lane in each direction would be repurposed to interact with connected and automated vehicle tech.

Pending approvals from the Denton City Council, an Austin-based company intends to convert its bitcoin mining facilities into data centers, investing an estimated $4 billion. Its site would double to nearly 43 acres and would offer high-performance computing for artificial intelligence.

Author Fern Tiger discusses how genuinely connecting with communities before launching projects can drive progress by ensuring feedback is more than surface-level. Tailoring engagement can shape more accurate policies.

City and county officials discussed partnering with community organizations and technologists from Google.org on digital tools to resolve neighborhood issues, during a “Demo Day” webinar hosted by The Opportunity Project for Cities.

The San Francisco-based company will partner with autonomous driving tech firm May Mobility next year to field a fleet of Toyota Sienna minivans that will be accessible through its app. Precise details and timing are not yet clear, but initial deployments will use human “safety operators,” transitioning over time to fully autonomous operations.

The City Council heard testimony for and against the project Monday ahead of a final vote on whether OG&E can power the planned center. Actions on an accompanying development agreement plan and tax incentive pact were continued to Dec. 2.

San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency has approved a contract with Hitachi Rail for a new train control system. The replacement will move the Muni Metro off 1998 technology that runs on floppy disks.

Sila Nanotechnology is renovating a factory in Moses Lake, Wash., to make silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Officials must train the skilled workforce the renewable energy industry needs, and they must secure energy sources.

Greenlane Infrastructure is developing the facility, a charging plaza in Colton, Calif., at the intersection of two heavily traveled truck corridors. The aim is to advance the transition to zero-emission trucking and fleets.

The City Council is examining how the city’s famous views are being preserved. A recent study session on design and development standards included a proposal to use new software to examine how views would be impacted by proposed development.

The project’s parent company recently pitched four new buildings to town officials, for an artificial intelligence data center. Currently, four buildings on the 30-acre site house bitcoin mining; a fifth should be finished next year.

Steven Martin, a longtime IT executive in the southwest, will join Glendale, Ariz., later this month as its CIO. He brings public- and private-sector leadership experience to the role, where he will set the city's tech strategy and provide ongoing program analysis.

The project, in the city’s far southwestern area, won City Council approval after months of opposition from neighbors who claimed it would endanger the environment. The developer said it would be an economic boon, not a threat.

The Riverside Co.’s acquisition reflects a belief these types of software will continue a growth spurt, fueled in part by governments adopting better tools. Cloudpermit says it has worked with more than 850 agencies.

A partnership between the ride-sharing and autonomous car companies will bring self-driving cars to the state capitals in Georgia and Texas sometime in 2025. Waymo already offers rides in self-driving cars in California and Arizona.

It can take about a decade for a high-speed electric vehicle charger to recoup its investment without government subsidies, according to a new report. But the need for public charging infrastructure may be unlikely to diminish.

One, in Red Oak, is a 480-megawatt data center campus on 292 acres. Construction is underway. A second, roughly $1 billion data center project on 60 acres near the Bush Turnpike got city economic incentives last week.

Its newly launched Local Government Research and Development Agenda, a nationwide undertaking, looks to provide research and science to cities. Interviews and workshops with 20 munis are underway.