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San Francisco protestors are disabling autonomous vehicles using traffic cones | "It's a great time" (www.techspot.com)
submitted 3 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Safe Streets Rebel's protest comes after automatic vehicles were blamed for incidents including crashing into a bus and running over a dog. City officials in June said...

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[–] 91 points 3 years ago (31 children)

Almost like public transit is better than self driving taxis

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (21 children)

    Can we instead have self driving buses?

    I'm envisioning a system where you tell it your location and where you want to go, then it automatically sets up a route for the bus that coincides with where most people want to go and tells you to get off when it's near your destination. This can work in conjunction with self driving taxis if no one else is going to your destination.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago

    Maybe minibus but in no way it will works with full sized bus.
    The ideal bus to commute is a bus line with frequent bus, you don't have to check the time, just show up and in a few minutes there is a bus.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    You're not gonna get self-driving buses without self-driving cars first, so this protest is directly fucking you out of what you want

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)
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  • [+] -12 points 3 years ago (13 children)

    The problem is no one will use them. Busses are full of homeless people and people that NEED to use them than they want to. I was a bus driver for many years. They don't stop where everyone wants to go and it's a necessity to most instead of an integrated way of life. The entire American culture would need to change.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Yeah. But US culture needs to change anyways.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    For sure. However do you change something that is mostly government subsidized and everyone that manages the systems are happy with the operations?

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago

    I don't know how it is in the US, but i can tell you that public transit is pretty good here in my city. A self-driving taxi would still be the ideal experience for sure, but taking a bus isn't that much worse, and it's definitely better than driving myself.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    Busses are full of homeless people and people that NEED to use them than they want to.

    I heard this is the case in the United States. In Europe, as far as I can tell, it's more common that people from all backgrounds take public transit, including 'higher' class people. Of course exceptions and reasons exist.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    That literally just proves that we do in fact need more busses. More vehicles would allow for a wider coverage with more frequent and well organized stops.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    I like your idea, but implementing it is a bigger issue than you may realize. The transit systems in San Francisco are based on counties. Therefore it is a completely different governing body for each way out of the city proper.

    But coverage does not change the usage. That is several millions if not billions to reroute a busline to go to a different area. If only 10 people get on every two hours then another bus in a more populated area is more financially sound. We can sit and say more buses are the answer, but people being willing to get on to the bus is a part of the equation. I don't see how you are going to eliminate 2 extra hours out of everyone's commute and make them buy into it.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Public transit is better, but self-driving taxis are absolutely coming to every city in this country, which is great if you live in a city like mine that has little to no public transport infrastructure.

    Also, automated taxis can service more rural areas, which is the key driver of lack of public transport in many "commuter cities."

    Luddites gonna Luddite, but this tech is coming, and it's coming to logistics and taxis first.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago* (6 children)

    Yes, but SanFran ain't one of those. Taxis have the same problem cars do, which is size.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I can tell you aren't from SF. Because no one from here calls it SanFran. But I digress. Uber is huge here because it is where it started. And buses come with other baggage. Many homeless people and plenty of pervs doing shady things deter people from using the system regularly. Having seen the system it is substantial, but getting out of the city is the issue. San Francisco proper is very small 7x7 miles (49 square miles, Easter egg from being 1849 and the 49ers). But going anywhere outside of the city is where things take forever and why most affluent people do not use those systems. 2 hours back and forth is not economic on time.

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  • [–] -1 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I am well aware of both the benefits of public transport and this image specifically. This is irrelevant to our discussion

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    It's not if I'm arguing that self driving taxis are stupid

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  • [–] -2 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Self driving taxis aren't stupid. They better fit the existing infrastructure within America.

    Taxis as a whole generally serve a different market function than public transportation in the US.

    Im all for gutting zoning, and building dense, walkable cities, full of public transportation free at POS - but that's not the world we live in.

    Self-driving taxis are such a massive net boon for people that it's not even a comparison to the alternative

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