Interesting transportation things

[Swede]

iirc Google have made it clear that they believe the manufacturers of the car/software will be responsible. Like if the on-board computer were to cause the engine to die mid-drive today.
Plus if some predictions hold true, most of us in cities will not own the cars and it'll be more like a driverless taxi service instead.

[mousquet]

^ Heard the same, but users / owners of vehicles themselves could obviously be held responsible in some cases, like poor maintenance or vandalism for instance.

Autonomous vehicles are very likely to require a huge package of brand new legal dispositions. They say it's going to be a terrible headache indeed.

[ssiguy]

Maybe Google and company may decide it's the manufacturers responsibility but their opinions don't mean they will stand up in a court of law.

If the car is maintained by the owner and the software doesn't work then the driver cannot be held liable due to not being their fault but the manufacturer can say the same thing. You had a recent example in NA where airbags weren't working and people died due to it but the car cmpanies demanded the airbag suppliers in Japan pay for all the replacements and all personal legal fees from suing clients.

Conversely, what if the self-driving cars work perfectly and the owner has never even had to drive the car once..........does that mean the "driver" gets reductions on his/her insurance rates due to years of safe "driving" eventhough they may not have driven in years? Can the police legitamately arrest a "driver" in the car who doesn't have a valid licence? Wouldn't that be akin to arresting everyone riding on a transit bus that doesn't have a bus driver's licence? What if a city changed the speed limit in a certain area like a school from 40km/hr to 30km/hr yesterday and the software hadn't be updated in time...how do you hold the driveer responsible for the speeding ticket?

Just because says it won't be there problem doesn't mean it won't be and all I see is endless litigation and a hell of a lot of wealthy laywers.

[ThePhun1]

I knew about Route 66 and I-10 to name a couple major roadways but I never knew about this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_281

I think it's cool that there's a road that bisects the country and goes from Canada to Mexico.

[austlar1]

I knew 281 runs through Texas, but I had no idea it was a border to border highway. That is a cool find. I take 281 north sometimes from the Austin area when I drive up to Fort Worth. I cut over to Fort Worth somewhere near Granbury. 281 is a calm and often pretty alternative to the ugly insanity of IH 35, which has terrifying traffic (and traffic jams) as it plows up the middle of the state.

[SpongeG]

• Video Link

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Was that the gay guy that showed up later in the video.

micahel was the first person in the video, he is wearing yellow butterfly pants

[drummer]

I've often thought that 281 would make a lot of sense as an interstate to parallel I-35 at least through Texas up to Witchita Falls...or even past the Killeen/Fort Hood area and travel up to connect to the new Chisholm Trail Tollway in the south part of Fort Worth. That said, I don't want to encourage sprawl, but I-35 is nuts!

[balletomane]

Route 281 actually continues northward into Manitoba as Highway 10. It's terminus is in Flin Flon way up north.
I wonder how far south it continues into Mexico?

[M II A II R II K]

Woman Marries Love Of Her Life After 36 Years - But It's A Train Station

http://www.ladbible.com/more/viral-w...ation-20170526

.....

- Carol Santa Fe, 45, says that she's in love with the Santa Fe train station in California (which she calls Daidra) and has now married her. --- You may very well be wondering how the pair have sex. The volunteer support worker reckons they do the deed 'mentally'. --- Carol explained: "There is a private bit where two walls meet, I go there to touch her, which I do by leaning against her with my clothes on. When I'm touching her, I feel as though it actually holds me and kisses me.

- "I do have sex with Daidra in my mind when I stand there. I especially like when I hear the trains rev up their engines - it turns me on. She says that she takes a 45-minute bus ride to the station every day and has been in love with it since she was nine years old. --- The marriage isn't legally binding, but to Carol it may as well be. She wears a ring and has changed her surname. The blushing bride explained: "I love her so much, she is so romantic.

- "Daidra and I chat about normal things, I always tell her how my day has been. "I feel really lonely not having anyone to talk to about it. Daidra has been the most stable partner I have ever had. I have had the time of my life being her wife. --- "I used to be scared of being in love with humans, but I'm not scared with Daidra. "I can never leave San Diego, because my lover is here. "I could never love another train station - she is the one."

.....

[Dac150]

Well that's interesting …

[plutonicpanda]

How does the building give consent?

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Dac150

Well that's interesting …

And sad...

[Busy Bee]

Some nut lady did this with the Berlin Wall. Some people...

[M II A II R II K]

A train running on virtual tracks debuted in central China's Hunan Province on Friday. It's the first of its kind in the world. How does it work?


• Video Link

[Busy Bee]

^You can make a bus look like a train and function like a train all day long, but it is still a bus. The smooth ride of steel wheels on finely tuned steel rails is not going to be accomplished with rubber wheels on pavement shared with other automobiles.

[ssiguy]

This is nothing radical in the slightest but rather just a new spin on the notion of a "guided bus" which are already used in Europe.

Guided buses look great on paper which is why a couple cities in France and one in Holland went for the idea but unfortunately are regreating their choice. They have proven themselves to have all kinds of unforseen downfalls which have cost the transit agencies a lot of money. They are so problematic that Bombardier took it's guided buses out of production and will not bring them back.

First, the relay systems didn't work properly {or at all} in ice and snow. Second, high heat which can soften pavement also screwed up the relays. Third, because they run on imaginary track to the milimeter, the transit agencies found that these heavy and big buses began to create groovess in the pavement damaging the relay system and the road in general so the roads had to be torn up and replaced by stronger but more expensive cement roadways.

[SpongeG]

Here is an article of it

china unveils driverless train that follows painted lines instead of rails

http://www.designboom.com/technology...in-06-06-2017/

[ssiguy]

As I pointed out above, they look great on paper but have had a lot of unforeseen expenses which have negated any potential savings over standard streetcars/LRT. Where they been in employed in Europe they have proven themselves to be far more trouble than they are worth.

[M II A II R II K]

Perhaps they should make a floating version that slides over its own magnetic platform, and they could pass each other too.