The California lawmakers are considering a legislation to charge $25,000 penalties for companies with self-driving cars operating without permits in San Francisco Bay Area and statewide. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation AB87 to increase penalties for such companies with the means of removing illegal vehicles on state roads. The legislation will give state DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) the authority to charge penalties for companies with self-driving cars, operating without permits on California roads when it becomes state law.

The Waymo company self-driving cars owned by Google is moving forward with ways and means of increasing the speed developmental process. The Waymo CEO (Chief Executive Officer) shared at Detroit Auto Show of building hardware and software packages. These in-house packages will expedite and increase the developmental timeline for mostly autonomous cars. The black Lidar units on top of self-driving vehicles to help the computer build a detailed dimensional map, of the road environment to react accordingly in real-time of what is happening.

The SFCTA (San Francisco County Transportation Authority) has approved an EIR (Environmental Impact Report) presentation for the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project along Geary Boulevard in San Francisco. The next improvement project steps will have SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) construct designs approved for the project. The SFCTA Board finally approved the "Hybrid Design" project thereafter modifications aligned with the EIR as presented.

The Caltrain transit data reports decreasing ridership in San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to San Francisco during daily activities. This will be interesting because Caltrain reported consistently increasing ridership for six years, and changes occurred in August with 2.7% ridership decrease from the same month in 2015. The month of September ridership decreased at 3.3%, October 3.5%, and November 1.8% compared to previous yearly periods. The Caltrain officials are looking at various elements because "increasing ridership" was part of the main points of electrifying train cars.

The Surf Air company airplanes will return to the original flight path using six months ago because the testing route to San Carlos Airport is finish. The testing route was in place because may local residents in cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton, California were complaining about the loud noise from airplanes. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) admitted a different flight path approach over the bay without local residential homes. The Surf Air administrators have been working with local airport and county officials on resolutions to resolve the noise problems.

The Silicon Valley electric transit systems manufactured by Proterra Inc. Headquarters in Burlingame, California scores $140 million new funding. The manufacturing company is a startup initiated with new ways of transporting passengers and saving our environment, and now raised approximately $180 million investment since inception in 2004. The company will use the money to create more quality products in two locations on the East Coast and West Coast. It plans to grow production lines by 300% in Greenville, South Carolina and starting productions in City of Industry, California.

The San Francisco Bay Area Tesla Motors in Palo Alto, California has closed doors to its showroom dealership in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri statewide. The Missouri Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) filed a lawsuit to block Tesla Motors company from selling electric cars throughout the State of Missouri. Tesla Motors company has been operating in Missouri for past four years and the sales license has expired on December 31, 2016.

The New Year 2017 is here with a new look of transportation vehicles for millennial generations in the future, and Silicon Valley is having the auto show on January 5-8, 2017. The auto show will be at San Jose Convention Center featuring and exhibiting new luxury future vehicles. People can test drive display vehicles and experience the new look of driving vehicles of the future in San Francisco Bay Area and nationwide.

The latest reports indicate Bay Area traffic congestion has increased to 84% during the last 10 years with no improvements. The reporting data was secured by San Francisco Business Times from Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) predicting traffic congestion in the Bay Area will be worse. The measuring method of traffic congestion on roadways and highways will increase with 72,100 hours of daily vehicular delays. The Caltrans data identifies Bay Area drivers will possibly see an increase of approximately 21,700 hours of vehicular delays everyday in next 20 years.

The vehicular traffic in San Francisco Bay Area continues to get worse everyday and forecasting traffic studies indicate it will get worse in the future. Latest report indicates ferry services within San Francisco Bay Area is increasing with many passengers commuting by boat across the bay. The ferry services have become so popular that often long lines for passengers and sometimes passengers are left behind on busy days. Many passengers are taking ferry services across the bay to avoid vehicular traffic on local roadways and highways.