An urbanist’s guide to creating effective mobility pilots

While public sector pilots are not new, their use has grown rapidly over the last 20 years with the adoption of smartphones, the rise of the sharing economy and the "Cambrian explosion" of new technologies, said David Zipper, visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Governments. He explained that pilots are "a path where local leaders can navigate uncertainty" before jumping prematurely into tech adoption — or prohibition.

Few guidelines have been offered, however, in how to best create a pilot, from developing hypotheses and metrics to collecting data and sharing information with the public.