Good day my good friend.

Alan Turing came up with the Turing Test, where it would be difficult for us humans to know if we were talking to a robot or not. While we may, or may not, be far from that, delivery robots in Cambridge are showing that they stand a good chance of passing the British Citizenship Test. I’m feeling all patriotic all of a sudden.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

A side benefit of electrification: its quieter

Now this is a story that I like. Park Rangers in Mozambique are using e-motorcycles to sneak up on poachers and catching them before they perform the dastardly deed. But using electric vehicles in the fight against crime is hardly a new idea. And while stories of poachers sat the bush being sprung upon by rangers does fill the heart with joy, there is not much in the way of evidence that shows that patrollers in electric vehicles catch more miscreants than those with an internal combustion engine.

But this is something about the electrification of vehicles we rarely talk about: how they could make cities quieter. The levels of noise across a city will generally decrease, subject to highly variable local circumstances. But they also change driving behaviour and the interaction between vulnerable road users and vehicles, by simply those users being unable to hear the vehicle approaching. Whether that is a blessing or a curse will be subject to many policies and much (quiet) debate.

The chilly story of road salt

Here in the UK, its going to get a bit chilly over the coming days, with temperatures finally dipping below freezing. That means that Council’s have been busy stockpiling road salt. And salt mines in Cheshire suddenly ramp up production to meet demand. But while this mineral helps to keep our roads running, what are its impacts?

Basically, if you go mad with it, the impacts can be bad. This includes salinizing groundwater, having impacts on sensitive life stages of biological organisms, releasing pollution from soils, and it can build up over a long time. The problem? There is very little else that can keep roads ice free, at scale, cheaply. Thankfully, codes of practice in managing salt are being delivered to avoid the very worst effects.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them. Thanks to Naked Capitalism for saving my bacon on these links today.

• EVs Could Take a Hit From Swiss Plan for Power Shortages (Barrons)

• How chemists are tackling the plastics problem (MIT Technology Review)

• No, Remote Employees Aren’t Becoming Less Engaged (Harvard Business Review)

• Why Faulty Streetlights Are Turning Cities Purple — and Why It’s Worrisome (Business Insider)

• Tesla’s Berlin Hub Can’t Hire Enough People, or Keep Them (Wired)

Something interesting

Imagine if the Circle Line in London carried every single passenger using the Underground every day. That is what the Yamanote Line in Tokyo does, carrying over 4 million people a day, and it is just one line in a huge system. This video covers in detail this extraordinary line.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

The UK House of Commons Transport Committee published a report into the Integrated Rail Plan a few months ago, and I’ve just got around to reading it. Its rather good, you know.