Kurt Hoppe

𝐕𝐢𝐚, 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐨 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐔𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬   Weaving robotaxis into public on-demand transit is a seemingly small step with big implications. When autonomous rides sit inside the transit network, the mode boundary blurs and riders will optimize for wait time, door-to-door speed, price, and perceived safety in new ways. The priority now, as it has often been, is data collection. How can we compare safety outcomes, trip times, reliability, and access across travel options? And how can these findings inform future transit service design?   https://lnkd.in/eF73qyQ4

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Vonage Network APIs Pave the Way for Freenow by Lyft to Advance Urban Mobility Innovation Freenow adopts Vonage APIs to access network capabilities, strengthening fraud prevention through faster, verified connections with drivers for millions of riders HOLMDEL, NJ - January 22, 2026 - Vonage, a part of Ericsson, and Freenow by Lyft, a leading taxi and multi-mobility app in Europe, have expanded their partnership with the launch of Vonage Silent Authentication API for customers based in the U.S. Vonage Network APIs enable Freenow by Lyft to tap into real-time network data and insights, helping prevent fraud through seamless user verification, ensuring reliable, efficient, and secure interactions for its customers and drivers. Network intelligence is becoming a critical layer of defense in the transportation space as fraud threats become more sophisticated and targeted. Enterprises worldwide lost 7.7% of their annual revenue on average due to fraud over the past year, representing an estimated $534 billion in losses.¹ With scam/authorization fraud, synthetic identity fraud, and account takeover as the leading cause of business loss, the need for advanced security measures continues to grow. “Launching Vonage Silent Authentication API for the U.S. customers marks a transformative milestone for Freenow by Lyft, the European taxi app serving nine markets and over 180 cities," said Tim Ossenfort, EVP Technology & Data at Freenow by Lyft. "Vonage's technology is revolutionizing how we approach user verification, offering a frictionless and faster process while enhancing security. With Vonage, we're able to deliver the seamless, secure, and efficient mobility experience our customers rely on.” Freenow uses Vonage Network APIs to enable SIM swap detection and silent authentication capabilities to invisibly verify user identities and prevent account takeovers in real time. These features provide an extra layer of security without interrupting the booking or payment process, ensuring customers can travel safely and with confidence. Niklas Heuveldop, CEO of Vonage and Head of Business Area Global Communications Platform at Ericsson said, “We’re proud to partner with Freenow by Lyft, enabling them to leverage advanced network capabilities to help prevent fraud through a more secure and seamless verification process. Network powered solutions by Vonage are transforming the mobility industry globally, redefining the rider and driver experience at scale.” 1 H2 2025 Update to the Top Fraud Trends Report, Transunion. About Vonage Vonage, a part of Ericsson, creates technology that empowers enterprises and equips developers to lead in the next era of digital transformation. Its AI-powered platforms and tools enable new value creation and innovative customer experiences across mobile networks and the cloud. The company's technology portfolio includes Network APIs, CPaaS, CCaaS, and UCaaS solutions. Trusted by enterprises across industries and embraced by de…

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Honored to speak on the opening plenary panel at the 50th Annual ATSIP Traffic Records Forum alongside an amazing group of experts — Ian Williams, Kristin Kingsley,Andrew Rogers, and ATSIP CEO Tara Casanova Powell — about Automated Vehicle Data, AI, and the future of transportation safety. We explored how emerging datasets and AI capabilities can transform roadway safety and driver protection. At Cyvl, we’re proud to be part of that mission — mapping cities with AV sensors and data to drive smarter infrastructure decisions, and ultimately helping prevent crashes and save lives. Let’s keep the conversation going, especially between public and private sectors. Real-world pilots are the best way to prove these technologies work. If you’re a government leader or influencer, my call to action: champion the speed and flexibility needed to test and scale these solutions. The future of safe, data-driven mobility depends on it.

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🚀  IHMC + Conduit Venture Labs: Turning Research Breakthroughs into Real World Impact I’m thrilled to share a new partnership between IHMC (Institute for Human & Machine Cognition) and Conduit Venture Labs to help advance real-world commercial paths for IHMC’s world-leading research. IHMC has been at the forefront of work in embodied AI, human-machine teaming, robotics, and human performance for decades. The opportunity now is not just continued discovery — it’s ensuring these technologies make it out of the lab and into the world, where they can drive real impact across defense, industry, and everyday life. 💡 Why this matters We’re at a pivotal moment for U.S. innovation. Across several critical domains — from advanced manufacturing to physical AI — the U.S. is falling behind. At the same time, our research institutions remain among the strongest in the world. The gap isn’t invention– it's translation Translating research into commercial outcomes isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s essential infrastructure. Too many breakthroughs don't exit the lab or stall before reaching scale, leaving economic, strategic, and societal value on the table. This partnership brings a builder’s lens early — evaluating multiple commercialization pathways (licensing, venture creation, strategic alliances) to ensure IHMC's breakthroughs reach real markets for impact and scale, delivering measurable returns. Thanks to IHMC's Ken Ford, Founder and CEO emeritus & Morley Stone, CEO of IHMC, for their vision and leadership. I have been a huge fan ever since I met Ken and got introduced to the organization. 👏 🙌 Lets go!!! 🚀 🚀 🚀 https://lnkd.in/gHCZkFFM #Ai #PhysicalAI, #Robotics #DeepTech #Commercialization #Innovation #PhysicalAI #TechTransfer #VentureBuilding Amish P. Christopher James Lüscher, Ph.D Jerome Hewlett

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Three years ago, when we said Manufacturing Tech was the next frontier, we mostly got blank stares. Today, the momentum is undeniable. AI is finally unlocking the digitization wave that manufacturing has waited decades for. And with public investment, private capital, and physical infrastructure like Solano Foundry coming online, the sector is positioned to catch up to the rest of the economy. Since 2000, industries like Financial Services, Information, and Business Services have tripled their GDP contributions, fueled by decades of digitization and software adoption. Meanwhile, Manufacturing has only doubled. That gap represents a $3.8 trillion catch-up opportunity and the window to build the enabling layer is wide open. The time is now. The infrastructure is forming. And the tools to modernize the industrial backbone of the country are finally here. We’re actively backing founders at this inflection point. If you’re building at the intersection of software and industry, we’d love to connect.

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The #robotaxi industry entered a new era, defined by the tangible formation of new, complex #valuechains. Recent #partnerships and strategic #pivots are a sign of the operational and economic structures required for #autonomousmobility to scale. In #TransportationTransformation, I predicted that the deployment of #autonomousvehicles (#AVs) would necessitate a radical departure from the traditional automotive value chains to a new, service-oriented paradigm: the Fleet-Based On-Demand Mobility Value Chain. I presented a #framework for the required transition. Today, that framework is becoming the industry's working reality and a predictive lens through which to interpret what might otherwise appear to be a series of disparate corporate announcements.

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🚦 Smarter Signals, Safer Intersections 🚦 As cities work to reduce congestion, improve safety, and meet sustainability goals, the humble traffic light is undergoing a transformation. Now there is help for transportation and traffic planners to use connected vehicle data for optimizing signals—without the need for costly hardware upgrades. From identifying inefficient intersections to measuring delay and split failures, cities can make data-driven decisions that improve our daily drives and the safety for everyone on the road. 💡 No sensors. No cameras. Just smarter use of data already available. If you want to modernize traffic operations, this will help: 🔗 From Vehicles to Insights: Smarter Traffic Signal Management with INRIX https://lnkd.in/gaA3cY5D #urbanplanning #trafficsafety #trafficsignals #urbanmobility #transportation

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Getting the tech right is only half the battle. If the public doesn't trust it or regulators block it, your state-of-the-art robot is just a very expensive paperweight. Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00 PM PT, I’m hosting a session for the UC San Diego Alumni AI Council (https://lnkd.in/gSWBz22V) "AI Perspectives" series to talk about the messy, non-technical reality of getting physical AI out the door. Drawing on my experience deploying self-driving vehicles, off-road robotics, and other safety-critical systems, we're skipping the theoretical hype and diving straight into the actual friction points of deployment: ➡️ What actually goes into a successful deployment beyond the code and hardware? ➡️ How public opinion actively accelerates—or completely stalls—adoption. ➡️ How regulators are approaching novel, autonomous technologies today, and how to navigate those frameworks. ➡️ The current deployment bottlenecks we are seeing across physical AI industries and how to build a strategy that actually wins over customers and regulators (instead of just hoping for the best). Whether you are building safety-critical systems, wrestling with deployment bottlenecks, or just curious about what happens when AI meets the physical world, you should be there. https://lnkd.in/gtYg9yzr (And yes, if you register, you'll get the recording even if you can't make it live).

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