June 1: Driverless trucks means jobless drivers | Uber crashes | That chime Cret | Puttin’ (a tower) on the Ritz

Our thoughts and prayers are with Councilman David Oh and his family. Oh was stabbed last night in an apparent robbery attempt.

A new report from the International Transport Forum focuses on the transition to driverless trucks, which will save consumers and businesses money but will upend the lives of millions of drivers. PlanPhilly highlighted this concern last year, noting that Pennsylvania is home to 76,960 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. There are 1,797,700 heavy truck drivers across the U.S.

A recent string of canceled trains and delays have New York straphangers cursing their subway commutes, the New York Times reports. Some of the delays are a byproduct of the system’s success—overcrowding has caused fully 38 percent of the delays in March. But it’s aging infrastructure that craps out with increasing frequency that’s primarily to blame. Lessons here for SEPTA riders who may feel tempted to gripe about maintenance projects slowing their commutes.

The hits keep coming for Uber. Like Icarus, the once high-flying company has come crashing down to Earth in recent months, wain low by their own hubris. The latest bad headline: Uber forced to fire a top executive over a intellectual property fight with Waymo, Google’s self-driving car unit. The engineering exec left Waymo to join Otto, which then got purchased by Uber, and—allegedly, of course—he brought along proprietary technology along the way.    

Tom Scannapieco, builder of 500 Walnut and 1706 Rittenhouse, is eyeing the Ritz Five in Society Hill for his next project. Don’t worry, indie film fans, Scannapieco says he’ll build new theaters in the project, if it happens.

Come to this Hidden City piece to learn about Whitemarsh Memorial Park and it’s Tower of Chimes. Stay for the photo of its architect, Paul Philippe Cret, looking about as French as you’d imagine a guy named “Paul Philippe Cret” would look.

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