Controversial robo taxis did not make the ‘first cut’

Three MIT Technology Review representatives held an event today to unveil their breakthrough list of technology for 2024. The items are timely now, more consumer-y than in years past, and according to the editors are “big meaty technologies poised to change the world.”

The surprising thing to me is that the first thing I saw when entering the LinkedIn live virtual event was a message in comment saying something like, check out our list of breakthroughs that did not make the list here. 

My message to industry folks reading this is, if your technology was not included, feel free to write to them and give your feedback. Hire or contact your PR pro to help you say it in an interesting way.

During the event, a communications engagement representative interviewed Amy Nordrum, executive editor of operations, and Mat Honan, the editor in chief who is based in San Francisco. I liked the Bear decoration on the wall behind him. I thought he might be a UC Berkeley grad but his LinkedIn says he went to University of Georgia and Emory.

How do they decide on the list? PR people, university researchers and company folks pitch them solutions throughout the year, and they are considered. Journalists need interesting pitches so that their editors okay their ideas so they don’t just toss out ideas to be nice to someone they may have met with. 

My experience is that they are open to in-person meetings. You need to be able to clearly articulate why your offering matters. A quality PR consultant can help figure out how to phrase something to get a response from MIT Tech Review. 

I’ve taken many technologists to meet their editors: Typically the true breakthrough news gets coverage in a feature. 

Relationship building is beneficial too. They might meet for a few minutes to shake your hand and make a new contact for future projects. If you are pitching a conference meeting, try to get in touch at least six weeks in advance and ditch the industry jargon when doing so.

MIT Technology Review editors mentioned weight loss drugs, AI for Everything, the Twitter Killers List, the first gene editing treatments based on CRISPR, Super-Efficient Solar Cells, Mixed Reality Headsets, and Solar Geo-Engineering technologies. Please visit the outlet’s website for the full list here. 

Examples of Twitter Killers mentioned were Mastodon, Threads and Blue Sky. Threads is up to 100 million users: I find engagement hard though due to lack of hashtag capabilities. Discord and Slack were smartly brought up. Slack is universally used by all people I do business with. Discord is popular with Gen Zs but I don’t like the way you can make your identity secret there. 

Apple’s Vision Pro Headset which will be out in February was mentioned. (See the photo that goes with this story. Photo credit goes to Wikipedia.)

The editors said to keep in mind that mixed reality headsets have not done well in the past with consumers. They added they were more impressed with the underlying technology because of how you can be present where you are and also be in or near something that’s virtual. Apparently, it’s wicked awesome, as they say in ‘Bahston.’ (I used to live in Salem, MA.)

They mentioned that Mexico has banned some solar geoengineered experiments. 

They deeply and passionately stressed what did not make the list. Honan said that he’s been testing robo taxis in San Francisco and because of Cruz running over and dragging a pedestrian, they took it off the list. They mentioned Waymo expanding its robo taxi program. As an aside, I never heard anyone say anything bad about Waymo so they must be the darling of the autonomous vehicles industry.

They added that some new Alzheimer’s drugs had major side effects and there was an experiment in Asia that showcased male to male reproduction. Wow!

They invited the audience and readers to vote on what the last item should be. The options are thermal batteries, lab grown meat and robo taxis. 

The purpose of this story is to help clients and prospective clients understand what makes journalists tick. If you understand media outlets, it’s easier to get their attention and coverage. Hire a PR consultant if you need help with media relations.

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Michelle McIntyre is a global tech PR consultant who lives in the Silicon Valley, IBM PR vet and VP of Marketing for PRSA Silicon Valley.