Self driving buses, trains, trucks etc

magicbastarder wrote: »

an article touching on one part of research i'm not hearing much about; the word 'autonomous' is usually used for self-driving cars, which implies their driving aids are self-contained, but is there much research being done into cars which talk to each other? surely there could be some robust, low-range (e.g. 500m) signal broadcast by cars - a bit like an IFF signal in airplanes - announcing location, direction, speed, etc.
would not have to be high bandwidth stuff - plus it could also assist with the issue of cars dealing with cyclists - e.g. if i had a GPS unit on my bike that would warn a car (or HGV) that i was 30m behind, it could have benefits here too.

Yes all these self driving cars communicating with one another is a major part of self driving systems.

All Tesla's come with 4G built in and constantly update Tesla about road conditions, etc. So for instance if a new pot hole appears on the road, the first car that passes over it tells all the other Teslas before they even leave the garage!

Great idea about having your own unit on a bicycle. It could be as simple as an app on your phone, letting all cars know of your position, etc.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

My guess is that the bus companies believe there would be too much of an issue with revenue protection - there are so many scummers here who would jump in without paying if there was a door not under the driver's nose. How's a driverless bus going get over that?

How does it work on Luas? Because from a revenue protection perspective Luas is fundamentally a self driving vehicle. Sure there is a driver, but he has zero interaction with the passengers, locked behind a screen, so we fundamentally already have exactly this.

It is policed by roving revenue inspectors, who issue fines.

And it is nothing new, 3 to 4 door buses with zero driver interaction are pretty much the norm across most EU countries for the past 50 years. It is a well solved problem already.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

How will it cope with 89 year old Bridie who simply won't put her FTP on the reader - she's never had to before and she's just not going to start now. And the tourist from Spain who wants to know how to get to "Dunes es tores" (pronounced Dunnes Stores by most of ye) - yes she has Google maps, but map reading is HARD work for some.

How does the 89 year old handle Luas today? Because again, it is exactly the same, zero driver interaction. Same for the tourists. Somehow they all get by.

As an aside, self driving vehicles should be a fantastic revolution for the elderly and disabled. A major problem we have in rural Ireland is the when an elderly person loses their license they can become very insulated due to poor public transport. You should watch the recent RTE documentary on this very sad subject. Self driving cars will allow elderly and disabled people a level of independent mobility that they can currently only dream of and personally this is one of the reasons I can't wait for self driving cars.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They'll all be replaced with driverless pool cars, you say? How many seats will be in each one - enough for Mam, Dad and the four kids? Or will the kids be expected to travel separately - how old do you have to be to travel alone? What if the kids car gets there before the parent one - will it hold them inside until the parents arrive?

You are making this sound far more difficult then it is. We already do this with Taxi's and GoCar.

With Taxi's in myaxi/uber, you can opt to order a regular taxi, a wheelchair accessible one or a 7/8 seater depending on your needs.

With GoCar, you can opt for different car sizes, city car, mid sized car, SUV or even a van (and also EV options now), depending on your needs, just like any rental company.

It will be the same with these car sharing services. These companies will have massive fleets of vehicles of different sizes. I suspect the majority will be one/two seaters as in reality that is what most people are really driving, but they will also have 5 seaters, 7/8 seaters, vans, etc. if you need it.

Really non of this should be surprising, just go to any car rental place and see the variety of different types of vehicles available.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Will they have car seats and booster cushions that magically adapt to the child's age?

Bring your own car seat! I do this now. I've a baby, but don't own a car. But we do have a fantastic lightweight car seat that we stick in when using taxis or firends/relatives cars. Really not difficult at all.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ramps that automatically roll out to cater for grandad in his wheelchair?

Of course, order a disabled compatible car, just like you can order a disabled taxi today.

BTW as I mentioned above, self driving cars will be an absolute revolution for the elderly and disabled.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What happens when the passenger starts having a seizure when the car is half-way from Dublin to Galway - if the car's not smart enough to detect that, pull over and call an ambulance, then we have a major reduction in service.

Huh!! Well it would be a damn sight better then someone losing control of the vehicle due to a seizure and crashing into other people at 120km/h.

Rumour has it that the car that hit 6 pedestrians last week in Dublin may have been a heart attack. This is actually a major benefit of self driving cars.

Of course if a person starts feeling unwell, they can report it if they can and the car can immediately start driving them to the nearest hospital, so another benefit.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What do you do if your pool car arrives, complete with used needles or condoms that the last passenger left in it?

What do you do if a taxi turns up looking like that?

Of course you report it, the service sends another car, the first car returns to depot for cleaning and they check the video logs of the previous user and then ban them from ever using the service again.

BTW they are planning to include smell sensors in vehicles like this, that can detect solid vehicles so that they are immediately sent for cleaning, without the next customer ever seeing it.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

How many rural residents will be prepared to wait the extra 20 minutes that a pool car will take to get to their house at times when there's usually low demand - eg at 2am when someone's waters have broken earlier than expected and they'd like to get to the hospital before giving birth, please!

What happens now for people who don't own cars? Plenty of pregnant ladies have been brought to hospital by taxi, just ask any driver.

You can always call for an ambulance if needed, just like people do today.

BTW you seem to be thinking that you can't own a self driving car! Of course you will still be able to buy a self driving car and have 100% use of it just as you can today for an ordinary car. In really rural areas, with low population density, then it probably make more sense for people to own their own car, that happens to drive itself, then use the on-demand type services, they are more likely to be a more urban thing.

In the above scenario you could even temporarily rent a self driving car to sit outside your house for your exclusive use for the few weeks before birth, if it was something you were concerned about.

Rave.ef wrote: »

As far as it just going from a to b and then a driver taking over it won't be feasible trucks and buses are extremely expensive pieces of machinery as they are so imagine the price of these when they come on the market first and still having to pay a driver.

The point would be imagine you had a fleet of 30 trucks, well now rather then needing 30 drivers, you only need 2 or 3 drivers in an office to remotely connect into the trucks to handle the difficult bits.