[LINK] itN: Reckless MPs okay Driverless Cars

[Tom Worthington]

On 05/04/16 21:46, Ivan Trundle wrote:

> ... limitations to the concept of ‘driverless’ cars. ...

Transit lanes for driver-less cars, buses and taxis might be viable. 
This would allow more efficient use of the road, as vehicles could be 
spaced closer together. It would be much cheaper than building new tram 
lines, freeways, tunnels and bridges. There would just be some signs and 
lane markings needed, along with infringement cameras to book anyone 
foolish enough to try manually driving a vehicle in an automated lane.

Canberra's next local government will likely be decided on the issue of 
if the city should have trams or buses: 
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/liberals-bus-plans-logical-but-devil-in-the-detail-says-top-bus-consultant-20160401-gnw81g.html

Adelaide < 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2009/04/travelling-worlds-longest-guided-busway.html 
 > and Cambridge < 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2015/07/longest-guided-busway.html > have guided 
bus-ways. These allow specially modified buses to leave the public roads 
and be steered on concrete tracks through the countryside. However, the 
track just steers and the driver has to accelerate and brake. As a 
result the bus-way can't accommodate any more traffic than a regular road.

The trams proposed by the current ACT Government would be self-steering 
(as they run on rails), but a driver would still accelerate and brake 
the vehicles, thus limiting the capacity of the system (and having a 
higher infrastructure cost than buses). The Opposition proposes a bus 
rapid transit system, but using conventional buses on existing roads.

In my view, Canberra should build a bus transit system, with transit 
lanes suitable for autonomous vehicles.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
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Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, College of
Engineering & Computer Science, Australian National University
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