Some of the highlights we've already pointed out include public offerings, new office openings, changes in city politics and more -- and it seems like our readers agree. Taking a look at our best-read stories out of Pittsburgh in 2021, we see a range from in-depth features to news summaries to short pieces about major company announcements. Dominating the list is one of the city's favorite tech sectors -- autonomous vehicles -- followed by interests in the growth of life sciences as well as equitable initiatives around the tech industry. Note: To formulate our best-read roundups each year, we remove our curated RealLISTs, as they're often our most read stories but don't tell us a ton about trends. But it is notable that readers love to know who won in our inaugural Techncial.ly

While Canadian capital markets slowed this week after a very busy previous week, in the week ahead, we're looking forward to the trading debut of Sophic client, Luckbox (LUCK-TSXV). Emerge Ecommerce (ECOM-TSXV) is also expected to start trading this coming week. Meanwhile, in the USA, AirBnB, DoorDash and C3.AI, all had very strong trading debuts as expected by most. At the same time, IPOs of Roblox and Affirm seem delayed to 2021, with speculation that these companies may try a different approach than the traditional IPO in order to avoid massive IPO pops, which do not benefit companies issuing new stock. Some alternatives could include direct listing, auction IPOs or going public via a SPAC. At the same time, there seems to be increasing chatter about unsustainable valuations.

Velodyne Lidar is the maker of the lidar units used by nearly all of the self-driving developments under way as of 2019. The company's lidar sensors are expensive, but it has worked with several automakers to lower costs considerably over the last few years. While some well-funded entrants (including Waymo and Cruise) have internal efforts under way to develop lower-cost lidar units of their own, Velodyne still has the potential to be an enduring leader in this space. Investors should be prepared to take a close look if and when the company announces plans for a public offering. Zoox is a secretive California-based start-up that is developing a self-driving system aimed at the ridesharing market.

Lyft is due to be the first giant tech startup to list its shares on the stock market this year -- and it has laid out all the roadblocks that could derail not only its own business, but the ridesharing industry itself. From dockless scooters and bicycles to self-driving cars, any number of transport modes Lyft has bet on could upend the ride-hailing business that it helped pioneer, according to documents Lyft filed as part of its IPO process. To the extent that Lyft is dependent on drivers, they also are a source of risk to the company, as well as potential regulation stemming from concern over increasingly crowded streets and curb space. Analysts said it was among the most candid assessments yet of the challenges facing the ride-hailing industry, which has historically employed as few as possible in its pursuit of the transportation market, instead depending on thousands of independent "driver-contractors" to support its business. The risks, which are mandatory for companies to detail as part of a stock market listing, are a kind of worst-case scenario for the business.