Gala Season

A genius fundraiser: ACE Academy throws two galas (one for parents, one forkids) in one night

The Highball
Photo by Chris Patunas
Students from ACE Acamdemy will spend the evening at the Austin Children'sMuseum.

ACE Academy is a school for gifted students, so their teachers and administrators have to stay one step ahead of the learning curve.

To prove it, the social planners at ACE have come up with an ingenious approach to the typical fundraising format. They're throwing two consecutive galas: one for parents and one for kids.

While parents enjoy The Austin Gifted Gala's Mad Men inspired entertainment, drinking and dancing at The Highball, students will get to experience a personal hands-on tour of the Austin Children's Museum during the Kid's Gala.

Since the Kid's Gala starts and ends an hour before and after the adult party, parents don't need to worry about finding a sitter for the night. Supervisors will be taking kids through stations at the museum and monitoring free-time play before showing a pajamas-optional movie time.

Sure, kids will be enjoying sack lunches while their parents enjoy the delicious bites and cocktails of The Highball — not to mention free access to karaoke rooms and bowling lanes — but there have to be SOME benefits to being an adult, right?

Also on the agenda for the adults: live music from Akina Adderley and Jenn Hartmann and stand up comedy from local entertainer Ralph Hardesty. There will be a live auction for, among other amazing prizes, a year-long UT Sports package and a trip to Antigua. Meanwhile, attendees can enter the silent auction with 40 different prizes including trips to Costa Rica and Uruguay.

The majority of the attendees will be parents, staff and friends of the school, says ACE Academy Assistant Director Elizabeth Lay, but everyone is invited to take part in this evening of high class, big prizes and wonderful entertainment. "Plus, you get all the good karma that comes from supporting a state of the art education for students who need it," adds Lay.

And you don't even have to leave the kids at home. Genius!

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Tickets are still available for Sunday night's Austin Gifted Gala through the ACE Academy website. Kid's Gala goes from 5 -10 p.m. Austin Gifted Gala runs 6 - 9 p.m.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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