Fast Forward

In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Puneeth Meruva, Partner at Trucks VC, a fund which invests in early-stage ideas that make transportation decarbonized, safer and more accessible. With the retrenchment of public dollars in things like electrification and alternatives to private automotives, the private sector is exploring where true creativity and returns are possible, and where p...

In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Alison Cohen, founder, chair, and president of Bicycle Transit Systems, one of the oldest and largest bikesharing networks in the country. They talk about the stubborn economics of bikeshares, the history of the model from coin-operated to electrified, and what's in store as systems recover from the ebbing ridership of the pandemic.

In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Henriette Cornet, USF professor and sustainable autonomy expert, and Toby McGraw, Chief Revenue Officer at Beep, an autonomous shared mobility startup, to discuss the past, present, and future of autonomy, with lessons from Europe and beyond on fleet management, integration of autonomous infrastructure into urban cores, and using autonomy to compl...

In this episode, John Rossant talks to Paul Rennie, OBE, the British Consul General in Los Angeles, about the UK's new legal framework around autonomy and how that'll impact the next decade of innovation in the sector. They also talk regional investment, what LA's car-culture can learn from the brits, and how autonomy may reshape not only our cities, but the demographic fabric of our countries. ——...

In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Ya-Ting Liu, the new Chief Public Realm Officer for New York City. They talk about how urban leaders can thoughtfully deploy pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, tackle entrenched bureaucracies, and expand economic opportunity through vibrant, joyful urban design. ———————————— Join us next at CoMotion MIAMI '25, Apr 29-30. Get your pass now and sav...

2024 saw a significant contraction in venture capital investment in mobility, down more than 50% since its frothy peak in 2021. So what comes next? In this episode, John Rossant, CEO & Founder of CoMotion chats with Prescott Watson, Operating Partner at RedBlue Capital, and investor and board member of Aerolane, a new company focusing on reducing aerial cargo costs. Hear from them about where vent...

In this episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast, host Nick Perloff-Giles dives into Portland's efforts in advancing sustainable delivery and smart curbs with PBOT's Jacob Sherman and Kristin Hull. They share insights on the challenges and lessons learned from implementing smart curbs, mapping curb usage, and partnering with private companies to “make the curb more productive”. The conversation...

In the latest episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast, Ray Sosa, Chief Planning Officer for LA Metro, sits down with our own Nick Perloff-Giles to talk about the billions the agency is investing to expand transit in the notoriously car-centric region. Ray, who has been working in LA transit for three decades, says the big shift is not just about the new rail lines and bus routes being built, it...

In this special episode of CoMotion's Podcast, John Rossant sits down with Andrew Glass Hastings, Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation, to discuss what's in store for both CoMotion LA and the OMF Summit - and by extension, what's in store for our cities, roads, skies, and waterways. Hear from them about the emerging landscape of curbside data, the challenges of scaling innovative aer...

In the latest episode of CoMotion’s Fast Forward Podcast supported by the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, John Rossant sits down with Taras Wankewycz, Founder & CEO, H3 Dynamics to discuss, the right range for a hybrid electric eVTOL, their EU-funded clean aviation project with Pipistrel exploring a new class of aviation-grade fuel cell systems, and solutions to hydrogen supply. ———————————— Join us nex...

In this week's episode of CoMotion's Fast Forward Podcast, Nick Perloff-Giles has an exclusive conversation with Marc Nichols, General Counsel at the Federal Aviation Administration, leading the “safest and most efficient airspace system in the world” that just announced $291 million of investments from the Inflation Reduction Act for projects that help achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas...

What could Saudi Arabia's futuristic NEOM, the Brooklyn-Queens Tram Project and Toronto's public transit possibly have in common? Meet 'Adam of Arabia' - Adam Giambrone, MBA, a senior transportation executive with decades of experience in providing innovative transit solutions who's threading the needle between legacy transit and the most forward-looking systems on the globe. Most recently, he was...

On this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles is joined by Tiya Gordon, Co-Founder & COO of itselectric, a company focused on redesigning and rethinking Level 2 charging in our cities. Hear from her about the challenges of conventional EV charging installation, opportunities for rethinking, and her thoughts on Tesla's recent news. ———————————— Join us next at CoMotion LA '24, Nov 13-14. Get your pass now: w...

On this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles is joined by Robin Hutcheson, the former Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at USDOT. In this discussion they explore the unique challenges still faced by truckers trying to manage the growing demands on the supply chain, how drayage is becoming more sustainable, and how everyone is getting...

On this special episode, recorded at CoMotion MIAMI '24, John Rossant is joined by Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Secretary of Transportation at the USDOT. Hear from her about the challenges and opportunities presented by the federal government’s landmark investments in clean transportation infrastructure, vehicle safety, and mobility equity, as well as insights from her own story on how to better inte...

On this episode, John Rossant is joined by Nick Molden, Founder & CEO, Emissions Analytics, the leading independent global testing and data specialist for the scientific measurement of real-world emissions. Tune in to hear about the best route to decarbonization, electrification, particle pollution, tires, emissions data, and more. ———————————— Join us next month at CoMotion MIAMI '24, May 6-7. Ge...

On this episode, John is joined by Alex Ivanenko of Hywatts, a company leveraging proprietary reversible fuel cell technology to make electricity from hydrogen abundant, portable, and affordable. Hear about the challenges of producing sustainable fuel, what hydrogen production might mean for the next generation of automotives, and how the grid of tomorrow will be made more resilient and decentrali...

On this episode, John Rossant is joined by Carlo Ratti, a professor and thought leader at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he leads the MIT Senseable City Lab, an innovative research team dedicated to investigating the transformative effects of new technologies on urban environments, from how we comprehend and craft them to how we inhabit our city spaces. Listen for a conversation...

On this episode of the Fast Forward podcast by CoMotion, John Rossant is joined by Michael Schneider, CEO & Founder of Streets For All, the organization behind the recently passed Measure HLA in Los Angeles. Measure HLA requires Los Angeles to add more than 230 miles of bike lanes and 300 miles of bus improvements - but can the car capital of the country really change? Listen for a discussion on t...

In this special episode of the Fast Forward Podcast, we celebrate International Women's Day with an all female panel on gender equality in the mobility sector, from CoMotion LA '23. Joining us for the discussion: Laura Rubio-Cornejo, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation; Hilary Norton, California Transportation Commissioner and Executive Director & Founder of FASTLinkD...

On the latest episode of the Fast Forward Podcast, we look at state-of-the-art carbon fiber lightweighting with Evangelos Zympeloudis, Co-Founder & CEO of iCOMAT, a startup based in Bristol, UK, and recent winner of the LA New Mobility Challenge 2023, that is revolutionizing the next generation of cars, trains, planes and spacecraft to be more lighter and sustainable than ever. Tune in to learn ab...

2024 looks to be a decisive year for many maturing trends in mobility, from electrification to autonomy to digitized fares; it can be hard, however, to tell the hype from hard facts. To help decipher, John Rossant, CEO at CoMotion, is joined by Seleta Reynolds, Head of Innovation at LA Metro, and Olaf Sakkers, mobility thinker and partner at RedBlue capital, for a discussion on everything the comi...

In this episode of CoMotion's Fast Forward Podcast, John Rossant sits down with Michael Inabinet, the Central Division president of HNTB Infrastructure. Join them as they navigate the complexities of how public agencies can maintain their core missions while leveraging the latest innovations for greater efficiency and impact. From the unique challenges faced by DOTs, transit systems, airports, and...

In this episode, CoMotion's John Rossant chats with Andrew Glass Hastings, the Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation. They delve into the heart of CoMotion LA '23 happening next month, exploring this year’s theme: 'Rewiring the City: Building Infrastructure, Boosting Innovation'. Andrew provides insights into the Open Mobility Foundation Summit, highlighting transformative tools such...

As CoMotion LA draws near, we chat with our Impact Partner, World Auto Steel. Their Steel E-Motive program stands at the forefront of sculpting the future of sustainable Mobility as a Service, propelled by innovative advancements in steel. CoMotion’s CEO John Rossant is joined by World Auto Steel’s Technical Director, George Coates, and Ricardo’s Chief Engineer, Vehicle Systems Integration, Neil M...