I always include in all my surveys that cast members should be paid more. I usually mention 3 or 4 of them for going above and beyond. That said, I know their pay comes from our tickets. I also was thinking and neglected to include the pay also comes from my DVC fees, food and other purchases. I any case it will cost me more and I dont object but was only pointing out the fact that the money would come from us and to deny that is wrong.
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LA TIMES: Walt Disney World plans to deploy driverless shuttles
- Thread starter kpilcher
- Start date
larathydo
Member
Interesting, these vehicles are very similar in spirit to what I was describing below (in the gondola transportation thread):
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/new-gondola-transportation.924477/page-17#post-7580153
I found an interesting video that features the Navya autonomous shuttles here below I thought you guys might be interested in:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/new-gondola-transportation.924477/page-17#post-7580153
I found an interesting video that features the Navya autonomous shuttles here below I thought you guys might be interested in:
rael ramone
Well-Known Member
I'm sure Tesla would love to be a part of it... I'm also sure that GM would at least equally like them kept out, especially since they must want THEIR tech in this area showed off...
IMHO, the only way for Tesla to be part of the party is either 1) GM ends their sponsorship or 2) GM & Tesla form a business partnership.
Disney-Trains
Well-Known Member
Isn't this the same company that couldn't get GPS to work on the fancy flowers and floats for ROL?
Ummm, no. Disney isn't developing the autonomous vehicles. They are buying them from someone else.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
From the looks of it, they're not even doing that.
Huh??
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Marni suggested this story would likely be news to Disney, so I presume it's more an effort to drum up publicity by the manufacturers of the vehicles than anything Disney is seriously considering.
Unless I've missed something, I guess!
Possibly, but the other poster was talking about stuff that Disney actually worked on themselves, and autonomous vehicles ain't one of them.
TheGuyThatMakesSwords
Well-Known Member
Curious - there is no driver. Therefore, no way to deal with a mobility device (wheelchair, scooter) that must be strapped down.
Wondering, if deployed, how long it will take for the first ADA lawsuit? Will the argument be "take the regular WDW buss". Would that argument stick?
Creathir
Premium Member
If this did actually happen, presumably each station would have a CM to assist with boarding/unboarding...
My gut says no way this is rolled out on the surface streets anytime within the next 10 years.
If anything, it'd be on its own "track" system (ala a PRT system like at Terminal 5 in London)
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Yeah there's no way to do it in actual lanes on the roads at WDW. There's way too much traffic and bad drivers too. I agree it could work by creating dedicated "shuttle" lanes which would be divided from the main roads by a curb. The entrances and exits into the dedicated lanes would probably need a railroad crossing style gate which could be automatically opened as the shuttle approaches but stays down the rest of the time to prevent dumb drivers who can't follow simple signs from entering the dedicated lanes. The only times the shuttles might need to interact with actual driven cars would be at the resorts, but even there it may be possible to isolate them to dedicated lanes with a little rework.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
It only would if they added dedicated lanes to the roads for them to run on. If they ran on the actual roads or converted a current lane to a dedicated shuttle lane it wouldn't help. They drive very slow too so it would cause a lot of people trying to pass them on roads which is a recipe for accidents.
On a more macro scale in theory if people who drive at WDW now because they don't like the busses actually like these shuttles and start using them there would be less cars overall on the roads.
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
Another aspect is maintenance needs.
If a bus holds 48 bodies and a shuttle holds 12, potential failure points that require preventative and reactive maintenance increase by 400%.
If one compares shuttle to tram, maintenance failure points increase 1000% or more.
TiggerDad
Well-Known Member
You do know that there are autonomous vehicles on the roads today out in the real world, right? It won't take ten years.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
This is true. Some of the money saved on not paying bus drivers would be diverted to higher maintenance costs, both labor and parts. It should still be a net operations cost savings. I have no idea how much the initial cost of these vehicles is. Assuming your example of 12 passengers vs 48 for a bus you would in theory need 4X the vehicles but I am not sure they cost 1/4 what a bus costs. There may be a larger upfront investment that needs to be made up with operating cost savings.
On the positive side having multiple smaller shuttles allows for a more efficient system and you can divert multiple shuttles to various locations based on demand similar to how they handle busses now but you get added flexibility with the smaller vehicles. It should be a more enjoyable experience for guests since you will have a more personalized ride with less people crammed in and you should be able to mitigate some of the former issues. For example, there would be no need for a shuttle to stop at multiple resorts if they carry less passengers. Instead of CR, Poly and/or GF sharing a bus to AK each resort can have its own smaller shuttle which in turn means less time spent on the shuttle for the guests. On the flip side, at busy times like park closing they would need to send multiple shuttles to a park to meet demand. I can see the pros and cons, but I think the benefits will probably outweigh the negatives.
Creathir
Premium Member
Yes.
That doesn't mean Disney would be willing to take 100% liability and dropping these on roads with 40-50 MPH speed limits...
It doesn't seem to me that this needs to be a method to reduce traffic congestion. I see it as a convenience for guests by not having to wait half-an-hour for a bus. As mentioned above, this could reduce traffic by people using these vehicles instead of their own. Also, if they would have dedicated lanes, that would remove a lot of traffic from the main lanes.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Agreed. It's unlikely they would have these vehicles go fast enough to keep up on the actual highways. The samples I have seen either run at pretty slow speeds or are required to have a backup driver in case the system fails which defeats the purpose of eliminating drivers. I think it works well as a replacement for parking and CM shuttles since they don't need to go fast and don't need to cross paths with driven vehicles. That's an easy win. I think the further these things would need to go (on actual roads) the less efficient they become because a bus with a driver can ramp up to a faster speed safely. When you start adding too many unknown variables to the equation it becomes exponentially more difficult for this type of system to operate efficiently and safely. They have to be conservative and extra careful to ensure that the guests are safe.