30-35% of the cost of running a city bus is the driver.

Imagine what cities could do with 50% higher bus frequency or more bus routes.

tempest_ 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Buses / Trams are the best use of this tech since not only is a high percentage of the cost the driver but they also drive the same predictable routes and not all over the place.

There are issues though. If you remove the staff from the bus you will need to handle some particularly unruly passengers in a different way. Currently the driver just stops until that person leaves or gets police / special constables involved.

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wetwater an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Where are you getting this number? Imagination is free but to execute the imagination is not. So yes, it depends on the imagination of the person who owns the tech AI company not your imagination.

And what is the cost of replacing the driver with the hardware/software and the servicing cost. and the operators in Philippines that are remotely working ?

	▲	triceratops 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Where are you getting this number? Previous discussion on this topic on HN. I don't feel like searching for it now, you are welcome to. I don't know what you're saying about imagination.

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ks2048 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

But, Waymo removed the driver and it's not cheaper than Uber, correct?

	▲	triceratops an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I thought that was because of the cost of the hardware. I could be wrong though.

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heyodai 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you've ever seen bus drivers in NYC, it's genuinely impressive how they manage to weave a giant box through the chaos. I'm not sure that self-driving tech will be able to replace them anytime soon.

This would be interesting for my native Kansas City though. There's a severe shortage of buses and it's much simpler driving conditions. Could be a game changer.

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triceratops an hour ago | parent [-]

If you remove the cost of the driver, smaller buses become more viable.

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wetwater an hour ago | parent [-]

Cost of driver replaced with cost of what ? how do you sustain that cost and dose it cost more than the driver ? One liner sounds cool but please back it up with something.

	▲	triceratops 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> how do you sustain that cost What does that mean? > dose it cost more than the driver ? No. That's the whole reason the field of self-driving exists. It will become cheaper than the driver. > One liner sounds cool but please back it up with something I don't feel like looking for links right now. You can disagree with my opinion and move on.

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SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Have more buses blocking traffic?

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triceratops an hour ago | parent [-]

"You aren't in traffic. You are traffic."

As a driver, you should want cheaper buses. More bus riders = fewer other cars on the road.

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SoftTalker an hour ago | parent [-]

Other cars don't stop in traffic for 30 seconds every other block to take on/discharge passengers.

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triceratops an hour ago | parent [-]

You can just go around a stopped bus (obviously not a school bus). And if the streets are so narrow that you can't, then you definitely won't like the traffic of all those bus riders driving their own cars.

	▲	37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

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iLoveOncall 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ok except apparently Waymo is more expensive than human-driven alternatives.

	▲	triceratops an hour ago \| parent [-]
		And you think that'll always be true?