Zag Talk

The McKinsey Center for Future Mobility’s Bold Claims About the Coming AV Revolution

As the world transitions to autonomous mobility, consumer uptake rests on four core pillars: affordability, accessibility, safety and sustainability. In a bold new report, Ani Kelkar and Darius Scurtu, from our partners at the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility [https://www.mckinsey.com/features/mckinsey-center-for-future-mobility/overview], argue that AVs will perform so well, that they will in fact be deflationary, driving down the cost of transportation and disrupting car ownership. In today’s podcast, Jonah Bliss chats with Ani and Darius, as they get into why they think this is the moment that robotaxis truly take off. And the three of them dive into the tricky downstream effects that could come along for the ride: would cheaper mobility just mean endless congestion? Are voters and policymakers ready for these sorts of massive changes? Also in the episode, Jonah, Greg and Athena analyze Q1’s financial reports, assess Lime’s pending IPO, discuss all the latest American transport trends headed to Europe and celebrate riding the D. Listen in! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com [https://www.thecurbivore.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Could a New Mayor Transform LA’s Streets, Housing and City Services? Councilmember Nithya Raman Wants a City That Works

Los Angeles has always been the city of the future, offering the world a vision of what’s to come, for both better and worse. Lately, while the region has still delivered on some audacious goals — building dozens of new transit stations, transitioning the nation’s largest municipally owned utility to green energy while maintaining reasonable rates — many feel local leaders have come up short when it comes to the day-to-day items that make a city feel livable. Streets, even when they have new bike lanes, are often pockmarked; permits for housing take forever despite the need to house a large homeless population; local businesses are struggling. The city is now at an inflection point, with voting in the first round of a mayoral election set for June 2nd. The three most viable candidates are Karen Bass, the incumbent mayor and a former congressperson; Nithya Raman, an urban planner turned city councilperson; and Spencer Pratt, a reality TV star who’s punched his way into the conversation thanks to high name recognition and money to burn. In today’s episode, we hear from Councilmember Raman, who currently represents District Four, stretching from the iconic Hollywood Hills to the beautiful San Fernando Valley. In her six years in office, she’s built a progressive track record, working to improve governance, build safer streets, create housing and push towards a greener economy. Before we get to the interview, recorded at Curbivore 2026, Jonah chats with Greg and Sela about the ITS European Congress, Helsinki’s glamorous new car-free bridge [https://zagdaily.com/urban/helsinki-opens-one-of-the-worlds-longest-car-free-bridges/], Amazon’s supply chain [https://moderndelivery.substack.com/i/196464791/logistics-amazon-opens-supply-chain-services-to-all-businesses] push, Spirit’s bankruptcy [https://www.newsweek.com/buy-spirit-airlines-viral-tiktok-campaign-shutdown-11910886], robotaxi pricing [https://open.substack.com/pub/curbivore/p/as-gas-prices-climb-commuters-truckers?r=n98q&selection=94685d13-c0f1-4cd1-8a90-0c3080872b72&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&aspectRatio=instagram&textColor=%23ffffff&bgImage=true] and more. Listen in! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com [https://www.thecurbivore.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Reverse Logistics: So Hot Right Now! Uber's Head of Grocery & Retail Partnerships Talks Returns Launch & 10 Years of Growth

Third party delivery has gone on a wild ride over the last decade, going from an urban niche to a worldwide must-have. Along the way, the array of items that consumers can get at the push of a button has grown from restaurant meals, to grocery items, to just about any SKU you can dream of: hardware, toys, liquor, electronics, you name it. Beryl Sanders [https://www.linkedin.com/in/beryl-sanders-06158653/], Uber’s Head of Grocery & Retail Partnerships, has led that charge, scaling up Uber Eats into novel verticals with new merchant relationships. Jonah Bliss sat down with her, live at Curbivore 2026 [http://curbivore.co], to hear what’s next for the delivery and mobility giant, including its just-launched returns feature [https://www.uber.com/us/en/newsroom/uber-eats-launches-returns/] (reverse logistics: so hot right now!) Also on the pod, Jonah, Greg and Sela dig into the latest robotaxi news, share what’s working for micromobility operators in LatAm and Europe, and chew over Upshift’s pivot to tele-ops. Listen in! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com [https://www.thecurbivore.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

AVs' Impact on Cities, Mobility & Delivery

As AVs start to impact everything from traditional ridesharing, to mobility more broadly, to even delivery and city-scale systems, it's time to think about how public and private players can best prepare for this new autonomous future. In today's podcast episode, Jonah Bliss and Harry Campbell (founder of The Rideshare Guy and The Driverless Digest) tear into these heady trends, tease which of them will get center stage at Curbivore, and retrace how the industry has evolved since the pandemic. Also on the pod, Jonah, Greg and Athena dig into Also's latest fundraising haul for autonomous cargo bikes, WeRide's move into Dubai, Manna's $50M haul, encouraging road safety stats and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com [https://www.thecurbivore.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

This Fighter Pilot Knows Why Autonomous Machines Shouldn't Settle for Anything Less Than Perfection

There’s nothing worse than an almost perfect machine. If a machine misbehaves consistently, users will know not to trust it. But if it works right 99.9% of the time, by the time it fails, most humans will have given up on closely monitoring it. Professor Missy Cummings knows exactly how high those stakes can be — having famously served as one of the U.S. Navy’s first female fighter pilots, before moving on to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and now serving as Director of George Mason University’s Autonomy and Robotics Center [https://marc.gmu.edu/]. In today’s episode, we dive deep into what she sees as the hidden dangers lurking behind AVs: humans that are too quick to trust fallible machines, too much latency between vehicles and their remote operators, incomplete regulations and a desire to keep costs in line. (These are topics so important that we’ll be revisiting them at Curbivore [http://curbivore.co] in April, where we’re bringing together regulators from the CPUC, alongside AV and delivery bot leaders.) Also on the pod, Greg, Sela and Jonah dive into London’s new microhub [https://zagdaily.com/featured/london-microhub-alliance-targets-1-million-green-parcel-deliveries-in-2026/] alliance, Florida’s senile new speed limits [https://cbs12.com/news/florida/florida-news-florida-law-florida-bill-highway-speed-limit-registration-stickers-florida-house-votes-to-let-highway-speed-limits-hit-80-mph-axes-registration-stickers-too], delivery cos pushing into physical AI, high gas prices and more. Listen in! Curbivore [https://curbivore.co/conference-overview/] is just three weeks away, and we’re excited to share more of the iconic speakers joining us April 16 & 17 in Downtown Los Angeles. Hear from leaders pushing delivery robotics, micromobility, gig work, next-gen parking, and even the Olympic Games forward! Check out all our speakers [https://curbivore.co/speakers/], and secure your tickets now [https://curbivore.co/registration/]! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com [https://www.thecurbivore.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]