Cities Get a Conductor
whopaulhugh@whopaulhugh
−0.8%
since Oct 9
The idea
I believe AI is about to run cities as one coordinated system, timing lights, deliveries, parking and transit together until congestion fades and driverless fleets make most parked cars unnecessary. That frees up enormous amounts of land, so I own the software and networks coordinating it all, the fleets and chips ending parking, the contractors who rebuild streets into parks and plazas, and downtown landlords who benefit as those streets become places people want to be.
What it owns
- These companies run the software, maps, cameras and networks that let a city coordinate traffic, rides and deliveries as one system. · Uber Technologies, Inc.It matches riders, drivers and deliveries in real time and wants driverless cars running on its app to dispatch., Alphabet Inc.It owns Waymo, the driverless fleet furthest along, and Google Maps already routes a huge share of city trips., Motorola Solutions, Inc.It sells the radios, cameras and command-center software cities use to run police, transit and emergencies., DoorDash, Inc.It coordinates millions of deliveries a day, and smarter routing and robot delivery could reshape how cities manage curbs., Cisco Systems, Inc.It makes the networking gear that connects traffic signals, sensors and city buildings, the wiring a citywide conductor runs on., Verra Mobility CorporationIt runs parking enforcement, tolling and traffic camera systems for cities, the software side of managing streets and curbs.35%
- Someone has to design and build the parks, plazas and terraces that replace lanes and parking lots. · AECOMIt's one of the engineering firms cities hire to redesign streets, transit and public spaces., Vulcan Materials CompanyIt's the biggest US producer of crushed stone and gravel, which rebuilding roads into plazas and paths still requires., Stantec Inc.It designs streetscapes, parks and urban plans, drawing up what freed road space turns into., BrightView Holdings, Inc.It does commercial landscaping and grounds upkeep at large scale, and every road turned into a garden needs someone to plant and maintain it.23%
- Self-driving fleets keep cars in use instead of parked, which is what actually frees up city land. · NVIDIA CorporationIt sells the chips and software most self-driving developers use to train and run their cars., Tesla, Inc.It's betting it can run cheap robotaxis at huge scale using cars it already builds., Mobileye Global Inc.Its vision chips sit in many carmakers' driver-assistance systems, and it sells more advanced self-driving systems on top., Pony AI Inc.It runs driverless robotaxis in China and is pushing into other countries, one of the few companies actually operating the fleets., WeRide Inc.It runs robotaxis and driverless buses in several countries, covering the shared transit side of a city with fewer parked cars.20%
- Landlords in walkable city centers gain when streets and parking turn into places people want to spend time. · Federal Realty Investment TrustIt owns walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods where shops, homes and offices share the street, exactly the places that gain when roads turn into plazas., BXP, Inc.It owns office towers in big downtowns, a bet that calmer, greener streets pull people back into city centers., Regency Centers CorporationIt owns neighborhood shopping centers with big parking lots that could become housing, markets or green space once fewer people park.16%
- Cash6%