Articles

I write about mobility innovation, transportation, driving automation, public transit, and technology policy for an educated audience of non-specialists. My work appears in a variety of outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, American Affairs, and Asterisk.

I also write Changing Lanes, a weekly newsletter on mobility, AI, and innovation. With more than 75 issues published, it has built a readership of over 1,400 subscribers, including founders, tech executives, planners, elected officials, policy analysts, and academic researchers.

Selected Writing

  • Why Are American Passenger Trains Slow?

    • American Affairs · Spring 2026

      • American passenger trains are slower today than they were before the Second World War. That’s not because something went wrong, but because something went right.

      • It may seem that the USA lags Europe on rail service, but only if we notice America’s visibly mediocre service for passengers but ignore invisibly great service for cargo.

      • Instead of asking why America lags Europe on passenger rail, we should be asking ourselves whether the USA can have better passenger rail… and whether it should want to.

  • Seeing Like a Sedan

    • Asterisk · Winter 2026

      • A history of how automated vehicles learned to ‘perceive’ the world around them, and how Tesla’s approach to the problem is very different than Waymo’s.

      • The contrast between the two firms prompts the question: should we expect self-driving cars to be as safe as human drivers… or better?

  • Remember When the Information Superhighway Was a Metaphor?

    • The Wall Street Journal · December 2025

      • Self-driving cars will, in the long run, make getting around cheap, safe, and easy… but in the short run, prepare for traffic jams.

      • There are things cities can do, and they should start doing them now.

  • The High Cost of Free Transit

    • The Daily Economy · September 2025

      • Eliminating transit fares sounds compassionate, but when implemented, it misallocates scarce resources and makes everyone worse off… especially the lowest-income riders the policy is supposed to help.

  • Taking Our Hands Off the Wheel

    • Arena Magazine · April 2025

      • An exploration of how self-driving cars will reshape cities, suburbs, public transit, and daily life…and why, despite their promise, they will also bring more traffic than ever.

Podcast Appearances

  • The Grand DARPA Challenge

    • Omnibus · December 2025

      • A conversation about the desert race that kick-started the robotaxis now bringing driving automation to our cities.

  • Driverless Cars

    • The Econ Nerds · August 2025

      • A discussion on the technological, regulatory and cultural barriers to a driverless future. Includes a fun quiz, and my hot takes on prediction-market bets about automated driving.