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Robo-Taxis are rolling, did you notice?
- ChatGTP 3y agoThese things are like trains, but the tracks are virtual and are made of GPS coordinates.
- amelius 3y agoand the railroad crossings have no barriers.
- coffeebeqn 3y agoFuriously typing a blog post: wrong assumptions software engineers have about train tracks
- taylodl 3y agoThat's funny! Reminds me of all the posts I've seen over the years concerning the wrong assumptions software engineers have about people's names and dates.
- foobarbecue 3y ago... except trains have humans driving them.
- ChatGTP 3y agoActually not true, we have fully automated trains for some years now. I've ridden fully automated trains in many different cities around the world. I've actually though about this for a while, not just replace cars with light rail and have small "pods" that you can call to come to your nearest station and hop on it, kind of like on demand rail. IMO this is kind of what has been built.
- replygirl 3y agothat's called a PRT
- arghwhat 3y ago... except driverless trains have been around for decades is is relatively common for e.g. metros, and even trains that are decades old with drivers have been prepared for driverless operation from day one - usually just requiring a signalling upgrade. Trivial to do self-driving when the tracks are real.
- orwin 3y agoDriverless trains still need operators (who can be remote) and can only operate if the tracks are surveilled and kept clean (one of the huge issue of driverless trains us braking and braking distance).
- arghwhat 3y agoI find this statement to be misleading, as none of the concerns relate to driverless vs. driver... ful. All train systems have remote monitoring (normally as part of the signal system), even for driverful trains. The Danish Metro has 5 "operators" passively monitoring the entire train network, but can step in if something goes wrong. Nothing is required in normal operation - the trains even schedule and execute cleaning, and return to service fully automatically. All train systems require tracks to be kept clean, with driverful trains often having issues with leaves or snow. Some 20 years back when the Metro was new, there was some issues with spurious debris detection stopping the train, but that was sorted out. All modern trains have automated signalling, brake distance management and brake control, the whole shebang. The system, not the driver, enforce safety, and driverless systems have exactly the same characteristics. This is also why some trains bought more than 2 decades ago already boasted "self-driving ready" capabilities - the signalling system was already then for all intents and purposes the operator of the train.
- orwin 3y agoThe first one I agree with, but 'automatic braking' works pretty well in subterranean metro, and poorly if the tracks are exposed to elements (crickets, leaves, ice although that last one is less dangerous). When trains loose friction during braking, they start their emergency braking, which is costly and sometimes not enough (trains then overshoot stations). I agree that most (or maybe all) subterranean metro/urban trains can be made driverless, but this isn't the case for countryside trains.
- TRiG_Ireland 3y agoThe futurists keep re-inventing trains badly.
- MengerSponge 3y agoTrains: the crab of public mobility. futurists:train::evolution:crab
- FormerBandmate 3y agoLess homeless people and more comfortable
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoHonestly, trains, but where everyone gets a private car (and no last-mile problem) sounds like an excellent way to brand these services.
- euroderf 3y agoIf they don't excite kids, they're kinda missing the point eh.
- MattRix 3y agoThis seems reductionist. The fact that these cars operate on regular roads that have human drivers (and pedestrians, bikes, etc) makes them much more complex than trains.
- ripe 3y agoHave these robotaxis really reached the "plateau of productivity" now? The article doesn't say whether these ventures are profitable yet, or at least whether their losses are decreasing to zero. How do their operating expenses compare with conventional taxi fleets? Don't they need constant monitoring and ready staff to address issues? Not to mention periodic maintenance of the geofenced area to update maps and rules as conditions change?
- NeoTar 3y agoAnyone know if there are any robo-taxis in operation in Europe? I wonder if there are unique problems with European cities - e.g. Paris has a population density roughly fifteen times as great as Beijing() and Phoenix. European cities also tend* to have narrower streets than N. American cities. (* Although this is complicated, and perhaps not a fair comparison. Paris draws its city limits very close - e.g. only about 2 million people of the 12 million people in the Paris metropolitan area actually live in Paris, so we should expect the population density to naturally be greater that a city which includes its suburbs).
- AlotOfReading 3y agoThere are some research teams that have done European demos, but honestly, no. The European automakers have the technical ability, but have repeatedly failed at organizational competence and understanding the right design mindset. The EU regulatory environment has also been very different than the US on this subject. NHTSA and the various DMVs have been very laissez-faire about robotaxis, not banning them and allowing some level of (frankly unsafe) testing. The EU has taken a more traditional approach, where public road deployments will require type classification, which necessitates a whole bunch of legislation exist. For L2/L3 vehicles, that only recently came into existence. That framework doesn't exist for L4+ vehicles, so they cannot currently be deployed in Europe regardless of development status.
- kekeblom 3y agoEven if it was possible from a legislative perspective, European cities are also considerably harder to drive in than American cities that are cars first with wider lanes and clear grid layouts. Most parts of Europe also have more variable weather conditions. But yeah, it is indeed also sad that Europe does not have a single credible horse in the race.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoWeather isn't really an issue. People would just test in the wide, sunny streets of Madrid (or some other overgrown, southern city) if they wanted to avoid those sorts of issues. Europe simply isn't seen as viable for development right now. The regulatory environment is certainly noted and prepped for though.