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Volvo To Test Full-Size Driverless Bus in Singapore (reuters.com)
Speaking of Volvo, the Swedish carmaker announced today that it has partnered with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and unveiled a full-size autonomous electric bus for testing this year in the city state. From a report: High-density Singapore has been encouraging the development of driverless technology in hopes that its residents will use more shared vehicles and public transport. Tests with one bus on the university campus could begin in a few weeks to months, before moving to public roads after regulatory approvals, NTU President Subra Suresh told reporters. He hoped the tests could be extended to public roads in a year. A second bus will undergo tests at a city bus depot.
The 12-metre (39 ft) vehicle can carry up to 80 passengers and is the world's first full-size, autonomous electric bus, Volvo and NTU said. "This is the type of vehicle that real operators would use and that's why it is a milestone," Hakan Agnevall, president of Volvo Buses, told reporters.
The 12-metre (39 ft) vehicle can carry up to 80 passengers and is the world's first full-size, autonomous electric bus, Volvo and NTU said. "This is the type of vehicle that real operators would use and that's why it is a milestone," Hakan Agnevall, president of Volvo Buses, told reporters.
I think the biggest problem is Tesla'a Autopilot isn't the same as a self driving car.
The Autopilot is a tool to reduce driving strain, where it will keep you in your lane, and avoid collisions. Most of the Autopilot accidents is because some idiot thinks the car is a self driving car, and just lets it drive on its own, especially in situations where the road is non normal (bad conditions, road work, work men, traffic)
This is good if you are on the Highway you have picked your lane, and need to refocus your eyes a bit.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
No, it exists so that people can move efficiently through a city. A real city, I mean, not the shitty "100 strip malls and tiny restaurants surrounded by parking spots intermixed with housing-only suburbs" that many in the US call cities. I mean actual cities.
You've never driven in a city, have you?
The only people who drive in cities are those who have a terror of actually being near other people, or who have very specific one-off tasks to do that require hauling a large amount of stuff from one place to another. Even when my mother had a car when I was brought up in Britain we used the bus for most journeys. Even if you like driving (why? Moreover, why the fuck does every idiot car advocate think that EVERYONE loves driving?), you won't like doing it in cities.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
People who can afford their own personal transportation, will afford it, even if it's slightly a financial burden to them, because the benefits outweigh everything else
Some of the larger metro areas, like SF or NYC, I find it way more beneficial to not have a car in than to have a car. In MYC I can often beat most traffic on foot for just a few blocks, for longer it might be even using the subway...
Or at least that way true, every visit the subway in NYC gets more unreliable and worse.
Anyway, point is that if you are living somewhere in the middle of a few places it still may be more desirable not to own a car, and just rent something really nice when you do need one.
Now me, I do need a person car for what I do. But I would dearly love to have it be autonomous so I could do other things on long drives. My dream would be a kind of small camper van that I could sleep and work in while it drove me overnight to various destinations. That would be amazing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley