Join Us at the Urban Autonomy Summit - 10/8 in Brooklyn, NY
Transit troubles, Uber fights inflation, Woven City opens
Curbivore is pleased to invite you to the Urban Autonomy Summit, presented by Nexar, convening at Newlab Brooklyn on October 8th, 2025.
New York City is at an inflection point: autonomous vehicles are no longer a future debate—they’re already navigating big-city streets. With the likes of Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, Wayve and more all testing in dense urban cores, NYC and other megalopolises face urgent questions around safety, equity, and integration with existing urban transport systems. Now is the moment for a critical discussion to shape AV deployments.
At this momentous juncture, we’re bringing together pivotal voices, including:
Zach Greenberger — CEO, Nexar
Jeremy Moskowitz — EVP of Rideshare Strategy, Voyager Global Mobility
Sarah Kaufman — Commissioner, NYC TLC
Yariel Diaz — Director of Government Affairs, Serve Robotics
Andrew Hawkins — Transportation Editor, The Verge
Ryan Green — CEO, Gridwise
Ashwini Anburajan — CEO, Obi
Daniel Muñoz — Co-Founder & COO, Tower Mobility
Natalie Lung — Technology Reporter, Bloomberg
This is your chance to hear from the public and private leaders driving the AV revolution forward, as well as an opportunity to meet with luminaries from Waymo, Zoox, Nuro, NYCDOT, Morgan Stanley, Maniv, DoorDash, USDOT, Zipcar, Mapbox and many more.
Apply to attend this invite-only event. Or reach out to partner — we have one exclusive sponsorship opportunity left.
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
A very Detroit thank you! Thank you so much to everyone that came out to our excellent Detroit Mobility Week events; and thank you again to our friends at the Office of Future Mobility & Electrification for putting together such a lovely occasion, truly summoning the best and brightest who are working together to build a better future for mobility.
Out of Africa: Nigeria-based Moove is in the process of raising fresh funds at a $2B+ valuation, as it moves beyond being a vehicle lessor and fintech provider focused on Africa, to a globe-spanning AV fleet operator.
Understanding our transit troubles: Rhode Island looks to be the latest locale where public transit is taking a bruising, as lawmakers approved a plan that will reduce service across the petite Ocean State: 46 of 67 lines will see some sort of service reduction. With so many other regions also threatening to slash transit service, what’s a good heuristic for understanding which cities are most apt to run into this issue? Metro areas in the Northeast and Midwest are more likely to fund their transit operations out of volatile user fees (fares, tolls) or via politically-sensitive general budget appropriations tied to property taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes and the like. Meanwhile, transit agencies in the West (with the notable exception of SF-Oakland) are more likely to receive funding from a dedicated lock-box tied to relatively stable sales tax measures.
AV updates: Waymo for Business launches, promising robotaxis for business travel, subsidized commuters and event transport. Zoox asks for a 555 exemption, allowing commercial deployment of vehicles lacking pedals and steering wheels. Nvidia looks to invest $500M in UK’s Wayve (the whole AI / AV funding thing is starting to feel a bit like round-tripping…)
Nuber: Uber is rolling out a slew of updates, across both rides and eats. A new promo called “Fresh Days” is meant to help bring down prices for healthy vegetables and fruits, while changes to the app aim to improve item substitution. Price sensitivity seems to be front and center, as Uber is also rolling out $15 meal deals, discounts on pre-paid ride passes and an expansion to price locks.
Am I the Drama? CargoB, Boston’s Euro-style cargo bikeshare operator, is beefing up in a big way. Thanks to a new partnership with the MBTA, the startup is adding its vehicles to six transit stations, with 5-10 more planned next year. What a great last-mile option…
New city, old company: Toyota has officially opened the first phase of its Woven City, located on the steps of Mount Fuji. While the experimental town is meant to help the OEM test new types of mobility and technology solutions, its execs are trying to temper expectations that the hamlet will drive any immediate financial results. “As global citizens, I believe Toyota has a responsibility to invest in our collective future,” said Chairman Akio Toyoda.
Giggity! New research from Incognia shows that fraud continues to be a major concern across gig-powered apps. The biggest issues look to be collusion, chargebacks / payment fraud, refund abuse and account sharing.
De-signed to fail: Cityfi finds that the City of Los Angeles’ failure to enforce advertising and signage rules is leading to $60M in foregone revenue, not to mention tremendous visual blight and the mis-utilization of land that could house new apartments. The city tackled this problem once before — does anyone else remember the Supergraphics case? — and in any sane world would realize that going after this one could make it some much-needed moolah.
Everything is political: The Trump Admin is advancing a $1.3B, Biden-approved EV battery plant loan, while cancelling DOT grants to pro-pedestrian and biking projects. It’s also trying to claw back $2.4B in CAHSR funding, to instead offer it to states with higher birth and marriage rates. After early September’s raid on a Hyundai-LG plant, Koreans say “America is not a safe place to work.” Meanwhile, the administration also wants to own 10% of a Canadian lithium miner and the new $100K H1-B visa fee is not only designed to enable easy abuse and bribery but looks just as likely to hurt red states like Texas and Georgia.
A few good links: LA County brings dedicated bus lanes to South Los Angeles, connecting K, J and A lines. Talk about an electrifying experience. Amazon builds 10,000th home in Seattle region. Indian ridehailer Rapido hits $2.3B valuation. NYC looks to force all e-bikes to 15 MPH or less. Bologna, Italy battles over street speed reforms. Leaked photos of Rivian’s new secretive e-bike spin-out show a product that looks a lot like an… electric bike. TuneIn adds emergency alerts for drivers. Chinese factories have more robots than the rest of the world combined.
See you in NYC?
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew