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Bursting the bubble of driverless cars
Lucy Wallwork Transportation Technology & AutomotiveSorry to rain on the parade. Each of us is as susceptible to the romance of science-fiction visions of cities as the next person. These visions sell magazines, they provoke debate at the water cooler. They are a ubiquitous part of the visuals surrounding any "smart city" vision. The latest seductive images of our urban future is that of the driverless car. This is not to decry technological advances. However, there are good reasons to be suspicious about some of the claims about how driverless vehicles are going to transform our towns and cities.
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U.S. payrolls add 312,000 jobs as unemployment rises to 3.9 percent
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementNonfarm employers added 312,000 new hires in December, and the number of jobless workers increased 276,000 to 6.3 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The December rate of unemployment rising to 3.9 percent from 3.7 percent in November "happened for the ‘right’ reasons as more workers entered the labor force — the labor force participation rate ticked up 0.2 percentage points," according to Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
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Addis Ababa takes Dubai’s crown as the gateway to Africa
Matt Falcus Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementTravelers are now more likely to pass through Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport when connecting to destinations in Africa than any other gateway thanks to a number of factors that have made it easier and more attractive to do so. The Ethiopian hub has taken the crown from Dubai International, which has for many years been the most common connecting point to the African continent. Africa’s largest and fastest growing carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, is helping to grow Addis Ababa through targeted expansion in its long-haul and regional network.
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December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityIt is a message that needs to repeatedly loudly and often: do not drive impaired. The holiday season is a time where there are frequent preventable tragedies due to impaired driving. For that reason, December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. On average, 29 people in the United States die each day in motor vehicle crashes that involve the use of alcohol. Every year, more than 10,000 lives are lost to drunk driving at a cost of $44 billion.
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Would you live in an airport city?
Lucy Wallwork Construction & Building MaterialsThe Polish winner of the Man Booker International Prize wrote in her winning novel, on the subject of airports, that "soon we well may say that it’s the cities that supplement the airport, as workplaces and places to sleep. It is widely known, after all, that real life takes place in movement." Indeed, settlements have, through the history of civilization, sprung up around transport nodes — whether that is early settlers along the edges of a river, the Victorian-era railroad cities in the U.K., or port cities like New York. However, the more ambitious concept of the airport city, or "aerotropolis," is now gaining momentum.
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How hidden technology is making airports more efficient
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveThe average visit to an airport to take a flight can take some predictable forms for most passengers; arrive at the parking garage, pass through security screening, visit some concessions, walk to the gate, and ultimately depart. Now, technology behind the scenes is helping to identify ways to make the process more seamless for the passenger, and more profitable for the airport. A sensing technology known as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is being employed by specialist companies to analyze data on how passengers are using airports.
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Travel2020: Struck by the travel curse
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementSweaty palms at the airport? Has the light, now heavy, snow shower grounded your flight … again? If so, you may be one of the 1 in 7 Americans that feel they’ve been struck by the "travel curse." A new study looking at the travel experiences of some 2,000 Americans determined that 14 percent seem to experience so much bad luck when they travel that they believe themselves to be truly cursed. And it seems once it strikes, the curse just keeps on cursing, at least according to nearly three-quarters of those who feel they caught the travel hex.
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GM announces plant closures, Trump threatens to cancel subsidies
Michelle R. Matisons Transportation Technology & AutomotiveIf we need any more proof of the disparities between campaign promises and economic realities, consider that automotive giant General Motors has announced a restructuring that includes laying off 15 percent of its salaried employees and 25 percent of its executive employees. That’s 14,700 more North American workers without jobs by 2019. GM plans to "focus on electric and self-driving vehicles and prepares for a downturn in the auto market or a weakening on the U.S. economy." The company’s new motto? "Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion." But, for some, Zero Jobs is all they see.
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Travel2020: Following the money — Simplifying payment systems in travel
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementAs technology and banking become better bedfellows, new methods of thinking about the banking process have allowed such companies as ConnexPay to create newer, simpler and often less expensive ways of processing transactions. This is especially true in the areas of travel and e-commerce. We sat down with Bob Kaufman, founder and CEO of ConnexPay, after the company picked up the top award for Travel Innovation in the Start-up Category at the recent Phocuswright 2018 conference in Los Angeles, to get a sense of how banking and payment reconciliation may be changing in the travel industry — and what this might mean for other industries as well.
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Amsterdam Schiphol expansion proposed as Lelystad delayed
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveAmsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands needs to find creative ways to cope with capacity issues and is hoping further expansion could give it breathing space as it awaits the opening of Lelystad as a sister airport. Proposals to develop Lelystad, some 30 miles east of the city, into a commercial airport to handle Schiphol’s low-cost and leisure flights have been delayed to 2020 instead of next year to allow more time to consult with users and local residents. In the short term, this gives Schiphol a headache.
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