Trains are really cool, but not ideal for low traffic conditions + areas requiring a lot of route flexibility. We definitely should build a lot more trains/trams than what were building right now, but self driving buses will still have a very large use case.
Yeah self-driving at this point doesn’t really add much. Just improving driving conditions with bus lanes and better driver support is much more useful as you’d have to have a supervisor on the bus anyway.
However, I’ve invented a revolutionary “shared mega limo”. It’s like an Uber, but with 50 seats, and optionally you can ride standing if you’re sporty. It’s the size of a bus, but definitely not a bus.
The trick is you do both buses and trains. You use the buses to connect communities that don’t have large transit requirements between them and then for commuting you use buses to direct people to train stations where they can get the trains to work/ where they need to go en masse. Transportation is a multilevel solution that requires multiple modes to get people where they need to go but you can’t just rely on buses as quite frankly they lack the ability move all that many people even across quite short distances.
Also to address the self driving part: autonomous road vehicles that can operate safely and at scale are well in the fucking magic territory of technology. If you want a proven highly autonomous travel technique that works trains have been doing it for decades.
How about self driving buses?
Trains are really cool, but not ideal for low traffic conditions + areas requiring a lot of route flexibility. We definitely should build a lot more trains/trams than what were building right now, but self driving buses will still have a very large use case.
why do they have to be self driving tho?
Yeah self-driving at this point doesn’t really add much. Just improving driving conditions with bus lanes and better driver support is much more useful as you’d have to have a supervisor on the bus anyway.
No one wants a bus! That’s not cool.
However, I’ve invented a revolutionary “shared mega limo”. It’s like an Uber, but with 50 seats, and optionally you can ride standing if you’re sporty. It’s the size of a bus, but definitely not a bus.
Now put that on smaller tracks and give it the right of way everywhere! Now you got
tramsshared mega limo on rails!The trick is you do both buses and trains. You use the buses to connect communities that don’t have large transit requirements between them and then for commuting you use buses to direct people to train stations where they can get the trains to work/ where they need to go en masse. Transportation is a multilevel solution that requires multiple modes to get people where they need to go but you can’t just rely on buses as quite frankly they lack the ability move all that many people even across quite short distances.
Also to address the self driving part: autonomous road vehicles that can operate safely and at scale are well in the fucking magic territory of technology. If you want a proven highly autonomous travel technique that works trains have been doing it for decades.