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posted by martyb on Monday November 07 2016, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the bring-back-the-trolly,-too dept.

The New York Times has a story about what may be a more likely future of public transportation.

A small electric bus chugged along at a slow but steady seven miles per hour when a white van, entering the street from the side, cut in front of it. The bus slowed, as if its driver had hit the brakes, and got back up to speed after the van moved out of the way.

But this bus has no brake or accelerator pedal. It has no steering wheel, either. In fact, it doesn't have a driver — it operates using sensors and software, although for now, a person is stationed on board ready to hit a red "stop" button in an emergency.

At a time when self-driving cars are beginning to make progress — most notably with a trial program that the ride service Uber began in Pittsburgh this fall — the bus represents a different approach to technologically advanced transportation.

I say a more likely future because of the following:

A driverless car, after all, is still a car, carrying at best a few people. By transporting many passengers on what could be very flexible routes, driverless buses could help reduce the number of cars clogging city streets.

Few advantages accrue from driverless cars if the streets and highways are clogged with them. The passenger(s) can curse the vehicle up ahead instead of its idiot driver. My take: The idea has some promise, especially in places where people do not have long distances to travel.


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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday November 07 2016, @10:45PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday November 07 2016, @10:45PM (#423811)

    I don't know where you get the idea that the equipment is expensive. George Hotz has been working on a system that fits on certain Honda models and is based on a Raspberry Pi IIRC. Many modern cars all have the necessary hardware built-in: forward-facing radar, electric steering, electronic throttle and brake control, etc. All you have to do is add some cameras, and small cameras these days are dirt cheap (just look at the cameras in cellphones). The most challenging part about building a driverless car now is the software, mainly because it has to be absolutely correct.

    The "command and control gear for the whole system" is a simple server on the internet. That's not expensive, and doesn't require anything too beefy if you're talking about a "moderate sized city with 100 50 passenger buses", unless you have some team of absolute morons building the thing and bloating it beyond belief (which is indeed a valid concern these days, considering how much horrible and bloated software is out there).

    BTW, big-city bus drivers cost a LOT more than $25 per hour in total fully-loaded costs. Try more like $50-100/hour.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 08 2016, @03:54AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 08 2016, @03:54AM (#423916) Journal

    George Hotz has been working on a system that fits on certain Honda models and is based on a Raspberry Pi IIRC. Many modern cars all have the necessary hardware built-in: forward-facing radar, electric steering, electronic throttle and brake control, etc. All you have to do is add some cameras, and small cameras these days are dirt cheap (just look at the cameras in cellphones).

    You could do that, and it might even be capable of driving on a street, but it won't be legal.

    BTW, big-city bus drivers cost a LOT more than $25 per hour in total fully-loaded costs. Try more like $50-100/hour.

    As I noted, there's room to cut some costs before we go with automated driving. Doesn't require any engineering either.