FROM HERE TO THERE
CHANGING HOW WE GET THERE FLYING CARS
Aerospace startup Joby Aviation, where Evan Peairs ’16 is an electromechanical engineer, is working on a fully electric personal airplane. Faster and quieter than a helicopter, with vertical takeoff and landing, the vehicle has been described as a cross between a drone and a small plane.
IT’S ELECTRIC
Danny Kim ’02, CEO of Lit Motors, has been building cars since 2003, when he redesigned and built two biodiesel SUVs. He didn’t stop there. Most recently he invented a gyroscopic electric motorcycle called the C-1. A fully enclosed twowheeled vehicle, the C-1 is designed to be as safe as a car, and to alleviate traffic congestion and the environmental impact of single-occupant vehicles.
PEDALS TO THE PEOPLE
Lifelong bike commuter Kasandra Griffin ’95 is increasing access to bicycling in Portland, Oregon, as the executive director of the Community Cycling Center, an organization which began with the mission to get bicycles to kids in low-income areas as well as the skills and resources necessary to maintain them.
GO BY BUS
Senior Operations Analyst (and former bicycle racer) Miles Crumley ’07 keeps Portland metro’s bus systems on time and running smoothly with the power of data. Once a bus operator himself, Miles now finds ways to use information such as GPS data to improve city bus operations.He’ll get to the bottom of any delays, whether caused by bus mechanics, pedestrian crossing, or traffic signals.
illustration by mike lemanski
RKSK TO RIDESHARE
Ezra Goldman ’03 began working on the share economy when he masterminded the RKSK (Reed College Shit Kollective) mini-bike share—a collection of kids’ bicycles distributed around campus to help students get to where they were going, faster. Now, he is the founder of Upshift cars, a San Francisco-based startup that delivers a Prius to you with a text message, via a car concierge who bikes away afterward.
22 Reed Magazine march 2019