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You could send the car back home after it drops you off, or release it to pick up someone else. That is, if it is fully autonomous. I suspect that long before t
by happyslobro 10y ago
You could send the car back home after it drops you off, or release it to pick up someone else. That is, if it is fully autonomous. I suspect that long before then, the "self driving" term is going to get abused by marketing until it means nothing more than "autonomously maintains RPM relative to pedal angle".
- bjelkeman-again 10y agoOr share the car with other people for a lot fewer cars overall. Imagine a town with 1/5 as many cars as today. How nice it would be.
- gkya 10y agoWhy not just hop on a bus then? How is it different?
- adrianN 10y agoThe bus has a fixed route, the robocar takes each person exactly where they want to go.
- egypturnash 10y agoThe dream of the automated public car: It comes to you within a couple of minutes when you call it, instead of having to wait for the next bus. Which can be around a half hour or worse in the US outside of the cores of cities. It goes directly where you want to go, instead of going vaguely near your destination and stopping every three blocks for passengers. Cargo can go in the trunk, rather than get hauled onto the bus by hand and fight for space with passengers when the bus is full
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- collyw 10y agoIn Chile they have "collectivos" which are basically taxis that go on set routes, more like buses, and charges are closer to bus fares.
- aianus 10y agoCollectivos are awesome (used them every day in Mexico). It blows my mind that countries we consider 'third-world' have such superior public transportation options.
- klausjensen 10y agoNever heard of that before, that is awesome. If I had to guess, why it is found in third world countries, not in first world countries, I would point to cost of labour and energy. It matters if the driver is paid 3$/hr or 20$/hr, and if the petrol is 2$ or 7$ per gallon.
- Decade 10y agoOften, it’s because “advanced” countries have “advanced” consumer protection laws. A collectivo would be illegal here because it doesn’t have a hydraulic lift to pick up wheelchair-bound passengers.
- fineIllregister 10y agoAutonomous cars could be part of a service where you book a fare on an app and prices are stratified by how long you're willing to wait and how many people you're willing to split fares with. Then you have a spectrum from taxis to buses.
- throwaway287391 10y agoI have to say, it kind of blows my mind that someone could not see the difference in user experience between a bus and an Uber/Lyft... Even in the absolute best case scenario for the bus, where there's a perfect bus route from where you are now to your destination and there's a bus leaving exactly when you get to the stop, Uber/Lyft is still clearly better, and that best case scenario for the bus almost never occurs.
- jsprogrammer 10y agoI've never seen an Uber/Lyft vehicle I could stand in.
- mtone 10y agoBut standing in a bus is part of the worst case scenario.
- dalke 10y agoReally? Sometimes I want to stand. Buses are also great if you have a stroller. Or are in a group. Most buses (at least where I live) are wheelchair accessible. From a utility standpoint, if I have to stand then there are 30 or more others in the same bus. That corresponds to 20+ individual cars. The high density lines go every 10 minutes, with an accordion bus. Assuming worst-case standing is frequent then there's something like 60+ people, meaning that one bus is equivalent to at least 40 cars. Bearing in mind there's already other street traffic. In other words, the worst case scenario for a bus means that the worst case scenario for the alternative leads is more street congestion.
- adrianN 10y agoYou can also have self-driving busses, you know.
- dalke 10y agoWell, yes. But that's not really tied to the thread is it? I mean, the self-driving bus is going to follow a given route, and not have most of the advantages that throwaway287391 sees in Uber/Lyft. BTW, I don't know how much you use the bus, but the driver does more than just drive. People ask "is this the bus to X?", or "could you let me know when I've reached Y?" If someone is running for the bus, the driver will sometimes wait a bit. (I've done all of the above.) I've been on a bus where the side door didn't close. The driver didn't notice it, and started driving away. The passengers told the driver of the problem, who stopped the bus and closed the door manually. The driver also kicks off people who are too disruptive. Or wait until the cyclist mounts a bike on the front bike rack before getting into the bus. You wouldn't want an automated bus driving away with someone's bike on it, but without the person inside, would you?
- superuser2 10y agoI've never had an Uber ride longer than 25 minutes. I've never had a public transportation trip shorter than 50 minutes (walk to bus, wait, bus to train, wait, train to other bus, wait, bus to destination). I imagine this would be similar.
- danso 10y ago> I've never had an Uber ride longer than 25 minutes. Off-topic but am wondering if this meant that you've waited for an Uber for 20+ minutes? I live in SV so there's always an Uber within 10 minutes, was just curious if drivers would really go 15+ min for a ride.
- superuser2 10y agoNo, I usually wait about 5 minutes for an Uber and the ride itself is never longer than 20. I'm saying it's a lot faster.
- Avshalom 10y agoWell on one hand you can move parking lots, on the other hand you end up with a lot of empty cars driving around which means even more traffic.
- marcosdumay 10y agoMore cars on fewer, wider streets, while those same cars are not required to go through the narrower streets. I don't think there's any simple answer for what the overall effect will be. It will probably vary a lot from place to place.
- bluthru 10y agoThose cars can be bumper-to-bumper if they're all automated.