Post- SUEZ

          Over the few most recent days in Lyon, the city has been announcing recommendations to encourage the use of the city's public transportation rather than through private travel. This is due to a pollution alert where the quality of the air is essentially less than ideal. As seen here, this sign is alerting divers on the autoroute (multi-lane highway) to lower their speeds by 20km (~12.4 miles), from 90km to 70km (~56 down to 43 miles). Failure to reduce speed will be addressed with a ticket, as the roadways are naturally radar enforced. The idea here is to help reduce carbon emissions from those driving internal combustion, as slower speeds are overall more efficient for traveling.
           This morning knowing the alert was in effect, I felt a bit guilty our group took private transportation that didn't hold full occupancy. I wondered to myself if it would have been better environmentally to have taken either the city tram or the metro as far west as we could go along their routes, given they're electric, and then take the final length of the trip via the private transit. But then I realized the bus we were on still would have needed to travel from its origin through the city in order to meet us somewhere, with just the driver being the primary passenger during that time. Everything we do has consequences; I don't believe how we actually went about our transition to SUEZ and back was detrimental to the pollution alert, provided the bus followed the indicated speed limitations, and of course we would later go about our day using public transportation.

          This is NAVLY. NAVLY is a battery electric vehicle that makes a small trail around the Confluences Mall to pick up to eight passengers and gradually take them along its route. It moves at a moderate pace- slightly more rapid than walking. Inside the vehicle, you can see a man in a white polo. He is hold a tablet to ensure NAVLY is behaving correctly and continuing on the right path, as it is still in BETA/ not quite ready to carry about its days alone.

          NAVLY is able to know where it's going primarily through GPS. It follows along a designated path each day, and recalibrate its position through use of an antenna on its roof and also on the roof the mall. When a pedestrian approaches too close to NAVLY, it emits a ringing bell sound and stops until it determines the path is clear. It has particularly aggressive braking due to its hydraulic brakes, however, safety for everyone is important. NAVLY can also be seen in the USA in Las Vegas.

            If only my little iPhone could take wider view photos, this bridge adjacent to the Museum looked pretty neat with the angled tethers.

            The featured artwork is a metal installation above one of the subway platforms (I forgot which line it is). The tracks below feature a special autonomous subway which operates for a particular stretch here in Lyon. It looks like the other subways in the city who are operated by an actual person, however, this one is just a series of linked cars, and not much else. The principle of being autonomous is pretty neat; it still takes you to the next destination on its route. My immediate questions loop to wonder how it handles passengers who many have fallen asleep onboard once it reaches its offline hours, or if someone unfortunately falls in the tracks?

            Ms. Zoe flashes a quick smile. Renault is a native of France. From an outside perspective, Zoe is a unique component to both the regional and local electric vehicle community due to the very compact size and practical battery capacity. Zoe's family counterpart is the Nissan Leaf, who is more easily accessible to acquire in other global markets. A unique feature of European charging stations is the necessity to bring your own charging cable. While EV drivers already keep charging equipment in the car to directly plug into an outlet, the station near Zoe requires a male-male type charging cable which the driver supplies themselves.