The Monday Roundup: A car vending machine, pro bike x-rays, a very strong woman, and more

Here are the most noteworthy stories we came across last week…

Uber’s epic fail: There was a ton of great reporting and hot takes on Uber’s Tempe tragedy last week. The most interesting piece we came across was this in-depth analysis from an AV expert who said, “This will set Uber’s efforts back considerably, and that may very well be the best thing.”

Car vending machine: Ford is behind a cat-themed machine in China that allows people to walk up and buy a car.

Bike summit recap: We didn’t make it to the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. this year, so we were happy to find this short-but-sweet recap from Bicycle Times Magazine.

A strong woman: Endurance athlete Lael Wilcox was featured in a Wired video where she details how she trains and stays motivated to ride 20,000 miles a year.

Better buses everywhere: It’s interesting how cities around North America experience the same challenges at the same time. As Portland delves into “enhanced transit,” officials in Toronto are singing the same tune.

Vroom room: As if they didn’t have enough challenges detecting doping inside human bodies, the governing body of international cycle racing has a new x-ray trailer that can spot engines built inside bicycles.

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LA’s housing debate: Lisa Schweitzer is an urban planning professor at USC actively shared her thoughts about California’s controversial housing bill (SB827) via Twitter and her blog — until she received so many personal attacks she decided to take a step back.

B2V: Before Uber’s deadly crash in Tempe, the bicycle industry didn’t make much noise about the threat AVs posed to bicycle users. Now at lead one industry leader says bicycles should come standard with equipment to communicate with these new robot cars.

Bike share vandalism: Seattle’s DOT issued a warning to users of its dockless bikes: Someone has been purposely cutting the brake cables.

Dockless pile-ups: Photos showing huge piles and parking lots full of dockless bikes in China are still going around. What’s funny to me is that lots like this full of cars can be found all over the world — even right here in Portland (been out to Kelley Point Park lately, or did you see that huge fire at a car junkyard in northeast recently?) — but it’s so normal no one notices.

Motorized bikes more dangerous?: This news tidbit from Korea confirms one of my fears about e-bikes: That the speeds they can reach pose a danger to people who haven’t learned how to control it.

Another reason to ride: The obesity trend in America is still headed the wrong direction.

Plastic wands don’t work: Looks like drivers in New York City, just like here in Portland, can’t stop running into those plastic delineators that “protect” many of our bikeways.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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