u/CormacDublin

Right on cue the begging bowl because Europe won't fund it

Post a screenshot of yours

1M unsupervised miles already!

So the UNECE global road regulator as set the rules that Tesla and others have comply with once approved by one member State they will be approved globally.

https://unece.org/media/press/414913?\_\_cf\_chl\_tk=n.D3V4SJib1L2Y3LWzF.N3\_3R4QkpMcg7E\_ry9jupTk-1788494752-1.0.1.1-IM\_EZx8grij0HPUfYc4NA\_fRZbJ\_dc25JnXHPlCJMXQ

Very important meeting with EU Transport Ministers during our EU Presidency to have the finalized harmonized rules for the European Union with thise rule transposed in to Irish law next year so these could be on Irish roads as soon as next year.

https://irish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/events/state-representative-group-european-partnership-for-connected-cooperative-and-automated-mobility-ccam/

Unfortunately the NTA has made no plans or preparations for responsible integration in to our Transport EcoSystem

The days of a car being a right of passage are gone private car ownership has become a luxury many can simply not afford, or actually want to!

Cost of learning to drive: driving lessons, test fees, and the number of lessons needed have risen faster than inflation, making it a bigger upfront barrier for younger people with less disposable income.

Insurance costs: this is usually flagged as the single biggest deterrent — young/novice drivers face very high premiums due to actuarial risk, and this has grown as a share of the cost of driving.

Car ownership costs: fuel, maintenance, depreciation, and parking also matter, especially against a backdrop of stagnant youth wages.

I would suggest they are forced to use public transport and many do so in fear especially women who often have to spend more on taxi's for personal safety reasons!

Affordable equitable RoboTaxi subscriptions services can't come soon enough for most young people.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/5e3b052c-56aa-472d-a0c3-b4b001281ac8/

How many of the services are running more than half empty is this really the best use of limited funds when it only leads to fare increases or cuts?

So later in the year at meeting of EU Transport Ministers they will finalize the harmonized rules for Autonomous vehicles for the European Union to transpose the rules agreed by the UNECE to allow for deployments across the block.

What this means is once one country approves a vehicle it is approved for the whole block.

Unfortunately very little preparation has been done for this day, by the Department of Transport, TII, National Transport Authority and Local authorities, they have been consumed with primitive obsolete 20th-Century transport solution like BusCONnects and Metrolink that are turning out to be financial disasters.

It's time to move on and start preparing for the actual future of Transport the next EVolution of Autonomous SharedMobility, with vehicles that will come in all shapes and sizes to match capacity requirements, journey pooling will be more feasible, they will reduce congestion and traffic, speed up electrification of transport and reduce emissions and noise pollution.

It would have been better to build on the success of the Dublin Port Tunnel and put the majority of passing surface traffic in Dublin underground, instead of moving traffic from part of the city to another to the frustration of residents in those communities and the commuters trying to navigate the disaster of a Dublin transport plan, we should have a tunnel out from the city center to the M50 on all major arteries, so we could reclaim our urban realm allow for proper cycling infrastructure and further pedestrianisation in the city center instead of just a bit of gardening on Dame St for €70m+, this was my alternative proposal to BusCONnects and Metrolink The DublinLoop now that tunneling construction time and costs have reduced significantly, we have excellent Irish engineering firms that could match what the Boring Company is doing in Las Vegas, Nashville and Dubai!

It could also be done in other Irish cities to reduce surface traffic and congestion Cork, Galway & Limerick.

The Government will meet on Wednesday to decide if it is wise decision to proceed with Metrolink, €500m dead money already spent by the NTA mostly to Consultants and private engineering firms should be considered a learning experience not to be repeated, I have real concerns this project is obsolete before it gets off the drawing board and certainly by 2035 when it due to open, I am so concerned that I wrote to the European Investment Bank who the Irish Government are reliant on for borrowing the yet unknown Billions needed to start the project with a final cost now estimated at €30+ Billion by one of the Consortiums bidding.

I honestly think we could do better for the whole country with future proof Autonomous SharedMobility, not just one little Metro route and few bus corridors in Dublin, that will consume so much labor manpower, that we don't really have spare to waste, diverting it away from other priorities in Housing, building and retrofitting, as well as other urgent energy and water grid infrastructure needs.

It's disappointing there was not more serious debate in the Irish media when this was published last year! and the incompetence and lack of accountability and future proofing vision at the NTA should dictate the future of our transport.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/08/05/dublins-planned-metrolink-will-be-obsolete-because-of-artificial-intelligence-says-dermot-desmond/

The person who approved this company ex NTA CEO Anne Graham is now chairperson of the Road Safety Authority reassuring 🤔

There is simply no accountability the performance at PAC didn't ask for any resignations 😔

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/committee\_of\_public\_accounts/2026-07-16/

At last the Waymo app is now finally open to international visitors 🎉

Neither David McRedmond or Robert Watt have a democratic mandate, or can be held accountable by the residents and electorate of Dublin.

For yet another TaskForce no one asked for! Is a far cry from the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly for Dublin, and it is long past the urgent need for Radical Reform, Restoration and Rehabilitation of our Local Democracy and Local Government,

We urgently need to hold the Plebiscite for DirectlyElectedMayorforDublin, that has been postponed indefinitely by our National Government, labeling Ireland one of the worst in Europe for local democracy, quite embarrassing situation for our EU Commissioner for Democracy Michael McGrath,

Who will be challenged by his EU peers in the European Commission, who will be visiting during our EU Presidency viewing firsthand the compounding deteriorating situations in Housing, Transport and Crime in Dublin.

This explains the recent media relations blitz

https://reskilling-project.eu/index.php/news-events/events/register-now-for-our-online-workshop-how-ccam-re-designs-jobs-and-skills

It appears to be a shock to City and Transport authorities who have done very little or nothing to prepare for large scale deployments? They are now deliberately damaging public perception through incompetence and failure to invest in Digital communications and infrastructure.

I am deeply disturbed by the reports of the statements made by Mary Ellen Carroll, the executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, who told officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) We’ve seen some behavior we haven’t seen in a few years. … Waymo is frequently now blocking our fire stations from access,” added Chief Patrick Rabbitt, the head of the San Francisco Fire Department. “Their default is to freeze.” The situation can prevent firetrucks from responding to emergencies in a “timely and appropriate” way

This is doing incredible damage to public perception and I am very disappointed with the Statements such as I believe the technology was deployed too quickly in too vast amounts, with hundreds of vehicles, when it wasn’t really ready. It's not as if they have just appeared they have very slowly responsibly roled out the service over several years!

I raised the issue with SF FD about the lack of communication between first responders and RoboTaxi operators, and I find it unacceptable that it is so one-sided and that City Authorities have failed to invest in Digital Twin technology, so that effective communications with vehicles can be established to avoid sensitive locations and emergency situations, endangering first responders and passengers. Blaming the operator entirely is very unfair and proper communications with operators and vehicles should be a priority for City Transport and first responder PD FD Authorities.

Failure to do so is damaging public perception and almost seems like deliberate sabotage now of this vitally needed next evolution of transport, to reduce private car ownership, speed up the electrification of transport, reduce emissions, noise pollution and connect with transit, This failure that is having serious ramifications way beyond San Francisco and it is clear investment in 21st century digital infrastructure is needed and your short comings should not stop or delay progress any further reputational damage could result in legal action for your failures.

Lack of access or cost of transport is a big contributor to poor mental health from isolation and loneliness, not just in our older population in rural areas, but also many of our younger citizens and families in the suburban sprawl they are forced to move to due to historical poor urban development and lack of transport is also damaging the local economy.

More Affordable Autonomous Vehicles and SharedMobility could help reduce private car ownership, improve and help fund or replace undesirable or uneconomical public transit services, if promoted & encouraged OR unfortunately if David Zipper over blown skepticism is adopted along with incompetent Authorities who fail to invest in digital infrastructure, it will remain only premium service in a few select cities & we will see a repeat of the nonsensical backlash against AVs as we did with EV adoption and a huge opportunity could be lost or seriously delayed to improve our overall transport to actually meet people's individual needs.

Another extremely worrying development that emerged last year, during the blackout in San Francisco, we saw Waymo getting attacked for complying with CA DMW regulations

being forced to pull over and stop, because some communications also failed.

These vehicles are a giant mobile battery that could have been used as a valuable asset. and could have given energy back to the grid during an emergency,

But unfortunately, this was not planned for, and these valuable assets had to park up. For the Department of Emergency Planning, it is extremely disappointing, especially for a city expecting the big one!

Another example of a lack of joined-up thinking and the future opportunities with large-scale deployments of AVs to help cities in the energy transition,

AVs, as an additional use case, when not carrying passengers or cargo, could store renewable energy at peak solar and wind generation times to use curtailed energy so it is not wasted and give back to the grid when needed via V2G, especially during blackouts.