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0 pointsHPsquared1y ago0 comments

With self-driving tech, buses could be made a lot smaller and more frequent. They are large and infrequent because of fixed per-vehicle costs (mostly the driver).

EDIT: Small size then enables personalized routing: a multi-passenger taxi taking a set of people to similar destinations.

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jazzyjackson1y ago

That makes a lot of sense, I never thought of the labor as the limiting factor on bus route (clearly I just never thought very hard about it) but boy would it be nice if there was a 9 passenger van every 5 minutes to replace a full size bus every 30.

rglullis1y ago

Vans to complement buses are definitely a thing in São Paulo, and the cost of labor is not a limiting factor.

AstralStorm1y ago

Really the lack of stops and parking places is, and would be even worse for self driving vehicles deployed in numbers. Unless it's self driving motor bikes or such small personal transportation.

mulmen1y ago

In my city the cost of labor is very much a limiting factor. Robot drivers will open up transit options that aren’t practical now.

rglullis1y ago

How much are you willing to bet that the price of a Waymo ride will converge to be within 10% of the price of an Uber ride today?

(Also, followup question: how are the prices of Uber rides compared with regular taxi service, now that Uber has stopped subsidizing most of their trips?)

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jazzyjackson1y ago

rglullis1y ago

Vans to complement buses are definitely a thing in São Paulo, and the cost of labor is not a limiting factor.

AstralStorm1y ago

Really the lack of stops and parking places is, and would be even worse for self driving vehicles deployed in numbers. Unless it's self driving motor bikes or such small personal transportation.

mulmen1y ago

In my city the cost of labor is very much a limiting factor. Robot drivers will open up transit options that aren’t practical now.

rglullis1y ago

How much are you willing to bet that the price of a Waymo ride will converge to be within 10% of the price of an Uber ride today?

(Also, followup question: how are the prices of Uber rides compared with regular taxi service, now that Uber has stopped subsidizing most of their trips?)

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse