
Ask HN: Why not self driving buses? - tabeth
Was just thinking about this and wondering why there hasn&#x27;t been more emphasis on self-driving buses.<p>Traditional Bus Pros:<p>1. Cheaper than cars (no insurance, repairs, maintenance, etc)<p>2. You can multi-task on a bus<p>3. Buses are arguably less stress prone because you don&#x27;t actually have to drive it.<p>4. Safer than rail, automobile, foot, or bicycle [1]<p>5. More environmentally friendly [2]<p>6. Additional buses reduce traffic and congestion.<p>Cons of a bus:<p>1. Inconvenient: you can&#x27;t go when you want to<p>2. Security: I guess you could be harmed on a bus.<p>3. You don&#x27;t want to deal with certain types of passengers.<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;academic.oup.com&#x2F;aje&#x2F;article&#x2F;166&#x2F;2&#x2F;212&#x2F;98784&#x2F;Motor-Vehicle-Crash-Injury-Rates-by-Mode-of-Travel<p>[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.statetransit.info&#x2F;bus-fleet&#x2F;buses-and-the-environment<p>---<p>It seems self driving buses would fix most of the negatives. A self driving bus could be owned by a HOA (home owners association) or community. The bus then could be connected to existing infrastructure such as rail or could just go to the &quot;common areas&quot; that the community&#x2F;HOA desires.<p>The autonomous nature of them would also likely necessitate security which would select for more desirable passengers. Or at least desirable behavior.<p>In addition buses seem to be &quot;simpler&quot; in my view, from a self driving perspective. Buses tend to go to predefined destinations that are well marked or at least fixed. This would result in optimization in self driving techniques to get to specific areas, which would presumably make the route not only more efficient and safe, but less prone to technical error (whether its the implementation or data).
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devnonymous
Its not like nobody's thinking about it

[http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-
to-l...](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-to-launch-
first-trial-of-driverless-buses-in-jurong/3217632.html)

[https://www.google.de/search?q=autonomous+bus](https://www.google.de/search?q=autonomous+bus)

Another advantage that seem to be overlooked when people speak of autonomous
buses is, it does not _need_ to have predefined routes, timings or pickup
points. These can be dynamically optimized based on seat booking.

All that said, I guess the focus is on autonomous cars just so that the
technology can be created and tested first in everyday practical terms.

~~~
Gibbon1
Something maybe forgotten from 40 years ago in the Santa Clara Valley. For 6
months in 1974-75 Santa Clara country ran a dial a ride service[1]. What I
remember was small buses and taxi's that provided door to door service. Call
for a ride and a small bus would show up at your doorstep and drop you off
where you wanted to go, not half a mile from where wanted to go. And travel
times were generally fast.

I have a vague memory that people that used it really liked it. And it failed
because it was too popular for the resources available. One could also imagine
1974 dispatch and routing technology wasn't up for it either.

This is a link to the program. Appears there is a post mortem written in 1981.
Probably a good read.

[https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=52882](https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=52882)

Had a recent thought that a problem with SF Muni is it would work better with
smaller more numerous buses. Fews passengers means longer distance between
stops, faster travel times. The problem of course being, more drivers.

Autonomous buses solves that and congestion issues, which single rider
autonomous cars do not solve.

[1] There are limited dial a ride services for old and disabled people.

