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posted by martyb on Tuesday June 11 2019, @11:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the on-the-road-again dept.

Phys.org:

Losing even one in 10 customers would substantially reduce airlines' revenue. They don't make much money on each flight as it is; less income would likely cause them to shrink their service, flying fewer routes less frequently.

The problem wouldn't just be customers who chose not to fly. Some passengers might split trips between self-driving cars and airplanes, which would further reduce airlines' revenue. For instance, a person in Savannah, Georgia, who wants to go to London could choose to change planes in Atlanta—or take a self-driving car to the Atlanta airport, and skip the layover.

These changes could substantially change the aviation industry, with airlines ordering fewer airplanes from manufacturers, airports seeing fewer daily flights and lower revenue from parking lots, and even airport hotels hosting fewer guests. The future of driverless cars is appealing to consumers—which means the future of commercial flight is in danger.

A personal fondling session from a TSA agent named Brad, or 5 hours in your self-driving Mazda that your four-year old smeared peanut butter in?


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 12 2019, @12:31AM (7 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @12:31AM (#854450) Journal

    The government will keep them afloat...

    *Your tax dollars at work*

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday June 12 2019, @12:45AM (6 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @12:45AM (#854451)

    It already does, by not helping finance the high-speed rail that other countries rely on to reduce connecting flights.

    It got to the point where a few French assembly members are considering making flights illegal between towns with a good alternative on high-speed train (they can't agree on "good" yet).

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 12 2019, @02:30AM (5 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @02:30AM (#854485)

      French trains pretty much kick ass - though I was underwhelmed by the TGV... not as impressive as I expected, and even though it's fast, it's not astoundingly faster than the standard high speed intercity trains.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 12 2019, @04:16PM (3 children)

        by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @04:16PM (#854693)

        It's like riding Concorde and complaining it's not crushing you into the seat.
        You're still going twice as fast as the other guys. Engineers just did a good job.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 12 2019, @06:59PM (2 children)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @06:59PM (#854781)

          Let's put it another way: the TGV schedules were less accommodating than the normal IC schedules, as such TGV lost most of its speed advantage by making me wait to get on in the first place. The TGV routes of course did not go directly where I wanted to go, so forced a transfer which again reduced the time and convenience advantage.

          The TGV seats were less comfortable than the normal IC seats - even if they did look cool when they were new. The excuse is that you're not on TGV as long as a normal IC train, but at least the route I took (Paris toward the Alps as far as I could get before having to transfer), I was on long enough to get uncomfortable.

          Also, there's top speed and average speed, and the ratio of TGVavg/ICavg is significantly less than TGVtop/ICtop.

          Still, was kinda scary cool when blowing through rural crossings at top speed - thinking about what would happen if an idiot truck driver decided today was his day to leave the world with a bang.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 12 2019, @07:33PM (1 child)

            by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @07:33PM (#854792)

            High-speed rail normally doesn't have grade crossings, and the way the trains are built as one "snake" is a lot safer than the usual individual cars of low-speed trains, which tumble individually.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TGV_accidents [wikipedia.org]

            Took until 2015 to get a fatality (11), and that was on a test, not even a regular one.

            Their main default is the number of assholes who decide to shed their mortal coil all over the front bumper. Causes massive delays every time (twice a week for a while on just one line).

            • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 12 2019, @07:42PM

              by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @07:42PM (#854797)

              Welp, TGV from Paris in the direction of Geneva certainly did have grade crossings in 1997... haven't tried it again since then, but we were definitely hauling ass past some of those...

              If one of those suicidal assholes put some planning into it, they could surely derail the train without too much ingenuity and a heavy vehicle, perhaps modified to slip under the front of the train and wedge it up.

              --
              🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 12 2019, @05:34PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday June 12 2019, @05:34PM (#854732) Journal

        I would prefer to travel by zeppelin, but bullet trains are not bad. The TGV and Shinkansen are amazing pieces of engineering. As an experiment I set a glass of water on the table on the leg between Hiroshima and Tokyo and there wasn't even a ripple on the surface as we travelled at hundreds of kph.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.