The Monthly Beat - November '24 Edition

A recap of the most interesting Pittsburgh tech news from the past few weeks and upcoming local tech events.

Good morning!

Regardless of whom you voted for, I hope you all are enjoying the absence of swing state election ads as much as I am. Finally, I can watch football tonight in peace! Also, shoutout to all of you new subs from this past month. I’m now at 160 subs, which is wild.

But hey, let’s take a look at what happened in October:

What Happened this Past Month

The Big Story

You may have thought I was going to say something here about NVIDIA’s announcement concerning a new AI community in Pittsburgh or the AI Horizons Summit. But no! After chatting with a few local colleagues, I feel like neither of these are actually the big story this month, chiefly because there’s no new dollar amount of investment attached to any of these hyperbolic headlines. If you do want to read about that, I recommend this piece in NEXTPittsburgh, which has the highlights.

Photo from CCAC West Hills Facebook Page

The biggest thing that happened, in my view, was on the hardware side of things. The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) started the first registered electric vehicle technician apprenticeship program in the country out at their Oakdale campus. The 1-year, tuition-free program allows graduates to earn 15 college credits and certification as EV technicians. Currently, most EV technician training programs are manufacturer-specific. CCAC’s program, in contrast, will cover a range of manufacturers and technical issues “from the plug to the car.”

Anecdotally, I had a friend recently tell me a horror story about EV ownership in Pittsburgh. He purchased a Volkswagen EV this year and his wife was driving it home one day when all of a sudden, it just powered off. It would not turn back on and had to be towed to the dealer. He then had to wait months to get the car back, simply because there was no one around here who knew how to fix it. They had to bring in a special technician from out-of-state who knew how to troubleshoot it. All that to say, I think a program like this could be super beneficial for the growing number of regional EV owners!

The Headlines

• Technical.ly published a great piece on Open Source Pledge, an initiative led by Sewickley native Chad Whitacre that encourages companies to pledge $2k/year to open source projects and self-report their donations. I’m probably preaching to the choir, but yinz should definitely support open source, and this is a great way to do it!

• Niche’s Direct Admissions product was named a Best Invention of 2024 by TIME Magazine. The company now has partnerships with 130 institutions and college acceptance letters sent to over 580,000 students through its website.

• Astrobotic announced two cool new partnerships. The first is with Armstrong Trails, a 52.5-mile recreation trail traversing Armstrong, Westmoreland, and Clarion counties, where the company will be testing its new LiDAR systems. The second is with Bridgestone Tires to develop a new lunar rover tire. Unfortunately, they won’t be driving the rover on the trail to test these things, otherwise I’d try to be there.

• In other LiDAR news, the old Fort Pitt Brewery in Sharpsburg is being turned into an AI and technology hub. The investment is being made by Ohio-based firm Woolpert, which sees an opportunity to expand into Pittsburgh with its robotics team. The hub in Sharpsburg will be mostly focused on mapping complex areas with LiDAR.

• Near Earth Autonomy conducted a flight test of its Griff 135 aircraft with the Air Force, specifically to try out its ability to automatically avoid other aircraft traffic.

• Aurora has now delayed the launch of its driverless semi-trucks till 2025.

• Somewhat tech-adjacent, new details emerged about the city’s plans to transform downtown into a “hub of innovation.”

• And finally, Pittsburgh Technology Council published its TEQ State of the Industry report. Here are the highlights.

For the Days Ahead

• This Saturday, November 9th, Code & Supply is hosting Global Day of Coderetreat Pittsburgh. These events provide an opportunity for developers to participate in “focused practice” outside the pressures of the workplace. Sign up at the link!

• Do you have an upcoming event that you’d like me to share in here next month? Just let me know!

• A fresh new guest post will be coming your way soon to tide you over till the next Monthly Beat, so keep an eye on your inbox! As always, I’m looking for guest writers and podcast interviews! Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well.

That’s all for now. Have a great Thanksgiving!

—Austin