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Campus Shuttles Want to Speed Ahead in the Autonomous Vehicle Race

28 points by dthal 11y ago

steven777400 11y ago
The arguments the article lays out in favor of testing early autonomous vehicles as campus shuttles are compelling, and the reasons against not nearly so. We expect a driver to provide certain services only because they happen to be there; like an elevator operator, toll booth operator, or person directing traffic, there's really no problem operating without them. You could easily put a "Call" button in an autonomous shuttle (as is seen in elevators) to cover most of the corner cases that need human intervention. I think this test market is a great plan.
- ams6110 11y ago
  One thing a driver does is monitor the vehicle for trouble. Fights, vandalism, etc. I think particularly on a college campus you're still going to need some kind of authority figure on board who can at least call for help if something inappropriate or criminal is happening.
  - jzwinck 11y ago
    Then perhaps the autonomous shuttles should be deployed in some country where university students do not vandalize vehicles nor fight on them. Such places do exist, and perhaps they deserve to reap the benefits.
    - mc32 11y ago
      It's not always the student body who do the robing, but outsiders; on the other hand, drunk students do occasionally make very poor choices when it comes to showing romantic interest. Multiple video (with anti-vandalism hardening) lenses as well as two way radio (and speaker) should be able to handle most troubling cases with some central office dispatching campus police if things go downhill quick.
  - mudetroit 11y ago
    Not necessarily wrong, but interesting test case for whether insuring the autonomous vehicle is cheaper then driving the poorly trained driver. Might still have a supervisor, but now they can put their undivided attention on the occupants.
  - sdrothrock 11y ago
    There could be a combination of the two. Say, six shuttles with one human watching camera feeds and monitoring for problems so they can contact the right people. That would help deal with corner situations like crime/vandalism and also service issues ("Hey dude, this guy is sick and just threw up" or "hey I think you ran over something the tire is flat").
spike021 11y ago
The problem with autonomous shuttles on campuses, especially university/college campuses, is that people who are walking can be very unpredictable, and doubly-so if they are listening to music with headphones. I had a student job where I would drive our golf cart all over campus and it was awful at times when there would be many students out during class change, arriving on campus, or leaving. People don't pay attention or they take chances on their bikes/longboards.
- ergothus 11y ago
  Very true - but a big appeal about autonomous vehicles is that they can (or will) perform better than most humans in these situations. Human drivers are not immune to these problems, and campus drivers are just as prone to human error.
FreedomToCreate 11y ago
Interesting to see two YC companies that do the exact same thing in consecutive cohorts. Beside that point though, this is very different from normal autonomous cars. The path is preset and guided using GPS and the cars can avoid people using Liar. They avoid dynamic path planning and they have no need for traffic laws which explains the 2017 to market time. I am skeptical on university campuses adopting this. Get on a bike people. Golf courses and retirements homes, well those may have use cases.
- raywu 11y ago
  This is an awesome vision. Perhaps you're right about university campuses. But in addition to golf courses and retirement communities: business campuses, airports, amusement parks, the list goes on. Which is the other YC co?
dsfyu404ed 11y ago
Will it drive itself through the car wash after it gets puked on?

28 points by dthal 11y ago

The arguments the article lays out in favor of testing early autonomous vehicles as campus shuttles are compelling, and the reasons against not nearly so. We expect a driver to provide certain services only because they happen to be there; like an elevator operator, toll booth operator, or person directing traffic, there's really no problem operating without them. You could easily put a "Call" button in an autonomous shuttle (as is seen in elevators) to cover most of the corner cases that need human intervention. I think this test market is a great plan.

ams6110 11y ago
One thing a driver does is monitor the vehicle for trouble. Fights, vandalism, etc. I think particularly on a college campus you're still going to need some kind of authority figure on board who can at least call for help if something inappropriate or criminal is happening.
- jzwinck 11y ago
  Then perhaps the autonomous shuttles should be deployed in some country where university students do not vandalize vehicles nor fight on them. Such places do exist, and perhaps they deserve to reap the benefits.
  - mc32 11y ago
    It's not always the student body who do the robing, but outsiders; on the other hand, drunk students do occasionally make very poor choices when it comes to showing romantic interest. Multiple video (with anti-vandalism hardening) lenses as well as two way radio (and speaker) should be able to handle most troubling cases with some central office dispatching campus police if things go downhill quick.
- mudetroit 11y ago
  Not necessarily wrong, but interesting test case for whether insuring the autonomous vehicle is cheaper then driving the poorly trained driver. Might still have a supervisor, but now they can put their undivided attention on the occupants.
- sdrothrock 11y ago
  There could be a combination of the two. Say, six shuttles with one human watching camera feeds and monitoring for problems so they can contact the right people. That would help deal with corner situations like crime/vandalism and also service issues ("Hey dude, this guy is sick and just threw up" or "hey I think you ran over something the tire is flat").

spike021 11y ago

The problem with autonomous shuttles on campuses, especially university/college campuses, is that people who are walking can be very unpredictable, and doubly-so if they are listening to music with headphones. I had a student job where I would drive our golf cart all over campus and it was awful at times when there would be many students out during class change, arriving on campus, or leaving. People don't pay attention or they take chances on their bikes/longboards.

ergothus 11y ago
Very true - but a big appeal about autonomous vehicles is that they can (or will) perform better than most humans in these situations. Human drivers are not immune to these problems, and campus drivers are just as prone to human error.

FreedomToCreate 11y ago

Interesting to see two YC companies that do the exact same thing in consecutive cohorts. Beside that point though, this is very different from normal autonomous cars. The path is preset and guided using GPS and the cars can avoid people using Liar. They avoid dynamic path planning and they have no need for traffic laws which explains the 2017 to market time. I am skeptical on university campuses adopting this. Get on a bike people. Golf courses and retirements homes, well those may have use cases.

raywu 11y ago
This is an awesome vision. Perhaps you're right about university campuses. But in addition to golf courses and retirement communities: business campuses, airports, amusement parks, the list goes on. Which is the other YC co?

dsfyu404ed 11y ago

Will it drive itself through the car wash after it gets puked on?