Originally Posted by
TiHabanero
When millions upon millions of dollars are on the line, and the technology must work every time it is used, the going will be slow. After a couple of fatalities due to flaws in the tech, a company could be sued out of existence. Rush to market and you get the Chevy Vega.
It doesn't make sense that there aren't more fixed-route trials, especially with vehicles like buses, which often have driver shortages and schedule gaps during off hours.
Self-driving technology on fixed-route buses would basically just be like putting the bus on rails. You would need to hire a brake person to watch the road for safety, but the bus would basically just steer itself through the route as if it was on rails.
Such simple applications of self-driving technology are ignored in favor of all the fancy bells and whistles of lane-changing and the like. More fixed-route rail vehicles would be good and buses could serve that purpose using self-driving systems.