Trains are probably the least impressive self driving vehicles there are, but cool I guess?
But how are they going to be more punctual and reliable? I somewhat doubt that the conductors are the problem here.
‘First’ is nonsense, because driverless trains have been already there for years.
> Although the train is controlled through digital technology and fully automated, a driver will still be present to supervise journeys whenever there are passengers on board, the companies said in a statement.
And if the technology works as intended, this driver will have the most boring job in the entire world. If something unanticipated does happen that requires human intervention, it’ll probably take the driver longer to react.
There might actually be a simple way of improving reliability and punctuality with the trains we already have. They have a “dead man’s switch”: at random intervals a buzzer goes off and the driver has to push a button to prove they’re still conscious. But if the driver is a fraction of a second too late, or releases the button a fraction of a second too early, the train automatically brakes and comes to a stop. Given that this new train still needs a human driver (at least for now), I assume it has a similar system, and therefore potentially a similar problem.
Build in a little more tolerance to that system, or even make it “smarter”, and I’m sure you could eliminate a lot of those mysterious stops you often get without having to replace the entire fleet. In busy areas like the Hamburg S-Bahn, where just a few seconds’ delay for one train can throw the whole timetable out, I’d imagine this would have a noticeable effect.
Not that I’m an expert on this, but I’ve seen actual train drivers complaining about this. It feels like a no-brainer to me, but I’d welcome comments from train drivers if we have any on this sub.
I could never understand why there are already autonomous cars, but still we have train drivers. Makes no sense, as trains have way less possibilities to collide or have any incident than cars…and still, autonomous cars are there!
Lille has had self driving metro since the 80’s. Weird stuff like this hasn’t caught on more.
This whole article smells like badly done Geldwäscherei. Those numbers, lol. Like, even if the trains are fitted with 30% more passenger space, that has almost to nothing to do with the automation. And 30%less energy? Like, bro, it would be weird otherwise given how old the existing float is.
And here I was, thinking about becoming a Lokführer (train driver)…
After the recent DB strikes, this timing seems awfully suspicious.
Why is nobody talking about the Nuremberg Metro which is there for about a decade?
9 comments
Trains are probably the least impressive self driving vehicles there are, but cool I guess?
But how are they going to be more punctual and reliable? I somewhat doubt that the conductors are the problem here.
‘First’ is nonsense, because driverless trains have been already there for years.
> Although the train is controlled through digital technology and fully automated, a driver will still be present to supervise journeys whenever there are passengers on board, the companies said in a statement.
And if the technology works as intended, this driver will have the most boring job in the entire world. If something unanticipated does happen that requires human intervention, it’ll probably take the driver longer to react.
There might actually be a simple way of improving reliability and punctuality with the trains we already have. They have a “dead man’s switch”: at random intervals a buzzer goes off and the driver has to push a button to prove they’re still conscious. But if the driver is a fraction of a second too late, or releases the button a fraction of a second too early, the train automatically brakes and comes to a stop. Given that this new train still needs a human driver (at least for now), I assume it has a similar system, and therefore potentially a similar problem.
Build in a little more tolerance to that system, or even make it “smarter”, and I’m sure you could eliminate a lot of those mysterious stops you often get without having to replace the entire fleet. In busy areas like the Hamburg S-Bahn, where just a few seconds’ delay for one train can throw the whole timetable out, I’d imagine this would have a noticeable effect.
Not that I’m an expert on this, but I’ve seen actual train drivers complaining about this. It feels like a no-brainer to me, but I’d welcome comments from train drivers if we have any on this sub.
I could never understand why there are already autonomous cars, but still we have train drivers. Makes no sense, as trains have way less possibilities to collide or have any incident than cars…and still, autonomous cars are there!
Lille has had self driving metro since the 80’s. Weird stuff like this hasn’t caught on more.
This whole article smells like badly done Geldwäscherei. Those numbers, lol. Like, even if the trains are fitted with 30% more passenger space, that has almost to nothing to do with the automation. And 30%less energy? Like, bro, it would be weird otherwise given how old the existing float is.
And here I was, thinking about becoming a Lokführer (train driver)…
After the recent DB strikes, this timing seems awfully suspicious.
Why is nobody talking about the Nuremberg Metro which is there for about a decade?