Category Archives: Transportation Industry

Harley-Davidson Considering Entrance into e-Scooter Market

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LiveWire: H-D’s Flagship Electric Motorcycle

Some recent moves made my Harley-Davidson points in the direction of the company’s embrace of electric vehicles of the two-wheel variety. LiveWire and some other concepts indicate the iconic motorcycle company wants a piece of where the future lies in electric transportation.


Included in the future is the growing consumer appetite for renting their transportation rather than owning. H-D vice-president of product portfolio, Marc McAllister spoke on CNN business about the e-bike rental platform. McAllister said that the fast-growing e-bike platform is more of a commodity market place and H-D is exploring how it could offer its brand to customers in this type of platform.


The thought of Harley-Davidson, so well-known as the bike of choice for serious bikers, is considering a life in the world of cute little electric scooters, is a bit mind-bending. But the company has faced enormous pressure over the past few years in what has become a frighteningly competitive market for big bikes.


So, it’s not so surprising that the company has plans to introduce a naked motorcycle, an adventure tourer, and even a small-cap bike for consumers in places like India.
The company is now working on launching a full-electric ecosystem for its LiveWire. It is likely that entrance into the e-scooter space will bring more riders to the bond with Harley.

Google’s Project Wing Taking Off

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Drone Fox-C8 XT. Photo courtesy of ZullyC3P.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy announced that Google’s drone delivery service, Project Wing, will begin testing in the United States. The step is part of a White House initiative to encourage research into safety measures and other issues connected to unmanned flight.

Tuesday’s email announcement stated that the National Science Foundation has budgeted $35 million over five years on research into unmanned flight, while the Department of the Interior is planning on increasing its use of drones.

The White House is following up on the Federal Aviation Administration’s June finalization of introductory regulations controlling drone flight, especially creating guidelines for acquiring unmanned pilot licenses and rules for commercial unmanned flights.

“Honestly, the way I think about these issues, I don’t think about the problems,” said Dave Vos, the head of Project Wing. “I think about the solutions that we can bring to bear.”

Vos was speaking at a White House event promoting drone technology.

Norfolk Southern Railroad to Remain Independent as Canadian Pacific Gives Up on Bid

Transportation Industry, ,

Canadian Pacific Railroad, which operates rail service in Canada and segments of the Midwest and Southern United States, announced it will end its efforts to purchase its rival Norfolk Southern.

Norfolk Southern responded negatively to the almost $30 billion purchase, saying it did not think regulators would approve of the deal. Ownership of Norfolk would have expanded Canadian Pacific’s rail-reach to the East Coast, the Midwest and the South. Norfolk Southern is based out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Norfolk Southern Corporations stock price dipped almost 2 percent in trading before the opening bell on Monday. Canadian Pacific Shares were not affected by the announcement.

GM Launching Car-Sharing Service in US and Germany

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General Motors introduced Maven, a car-sharing service designed to attract people who would prefer not to own a car, but prefer not to use a ride-sharing service either.

Maven, which means ‘expert’ in Yiddish will begin with small fleets of autos in Ann Arbor, Chicago, New York, Frankfurt and Berlin. It will at first stay close to large cities and college campuses. GM will be testing the market for this service, with plans to expand to additional cities this year, although GM did not announce which cities or to what extent they would like to expand.

President of GM Dan Amman emphasized that this is a completely different service than Lyft Inc, a ride-sharing service that GM invested $500 million in. Ride-sharing allows people to call taxis; they do not need to drive themselves. Car-sharing customers use a smart-phone or other device to get access to cars and drive them themselves.

The use of a small car can be bought for as little as $6 per hour, while larger cars will go for about $12 per hour. Amman stated that today around the world there are about 5-6 million people who are utilizing some kind of car-sharing service. He expects the service to expand 4-5 times in the next five years.

US Travelers Wary as Airlines Merge

Transportation Industry, , , ,

The computer glitch last Thursday was short, and luckily did not overly inconvenience travelers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. There was also some impact from the bump on American Airlines flights in Chicago, Miami, and Dallas-Fort Worth airports.

Passengers are hopeful and cautious about the merger of US Airways and American Airlines; hopeful all will go well, and cautious to avoid unnecessary delays or problems.

Chief pilot Tate Willworth, for Leading Edge Aviation, who flies with US Airways/American often for work, said that his luggage is lost about 3 out of 5 times that he flies with them.

He said he is hoping that the merger will improve the running of the company, but he also added:

“I see it like a pack of sled dogs, if you’re not in the lead it’s a bad view.”

The two major airline companies merged in December 2013. Since that time they have been working to bring together 120,000 employees and about 1,000 airplanes, plus nine hubs, under one unified roof. The next giant step will be on October 17, when the company will transfer the reservations system of US Airways into the American Airlines system.