u/CormacDublin

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.

I have written to our Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council, and all the candidates in the upcoming Dublin Central By-Election.

to request a public meeting at the Mansion House Dublin as part of the campaign to discuss the Directly Elected Mayor and the Democratic Deficit in Dublin.

I would like to discuss the lack of progress on implementing the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly for Dublin, the holding of the Plebiscite for Directly Elected Mayor for Dublin and the recent appointment of Robert Watt on a salary of €280,000 for a role that has no democratic mandate.

I will be holding a number of public meetings myself in the coming months on the Democratic Deficit in Dublin and Ireland's breach of the COE European Charter for Local Self-Government published in 2023 and recently highlighted by our President Catherine Connelly.

These will coincide with our hosting of the EU presidency, inviting our current EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, our current Commission for Democracy in the EU who I have raised these concerns directly to him and the European Parliament. 

We will be reconvening the members of the Citizens' Assembly for Dublin and inviting our first Directly Elected Mayor of Limerick John Moran to discuss the slow process of restoration, rehabilitating and reforming of our Local Democracy.

The first of these meetings will be 17th July, the anniversary of the Local Government (Dublin) Act.

I have written to our Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council, and all the candidates in the upcoming Dublin Central By-Election.

to request a public meeting at the Mansion House Dublin as part of the campaign to discuss the Directly Elected Mayor and the Democratic Deficit in Dublin.

I would like to discuss the lack of progress on implementing the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly for Dublin, the holding of the Plebiscite for Directly Elected Mayor for Dublin and the recent appointment of Robert Watt on a salary of €280,000 for a role that has no democratic mandate.

I will be holding a number of public meetings myself in the coming months on the Democratic Deficit in Dublin and Ireland's breach of the COE European Charter for Local Self-Government published in 2023 and recently highlighted by our President Catherine Connelly.

These will coincide with our hosting of the EU presidency, inviting our current EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, our current Commission for Democracy in the EU who I have raised these concerns directly to him and the European Parliament. 

We will be reconvening the members of the Citizens' Assembly for Dublin and inviting our first Directly Elected Mayor of Limerick John Moran to discuss the slow process of restoration, rehabilitating and reforming of our Local Democracy.

The first of these meetings will be 17th July, the anniversary of the Local Government (Dublin) Act.