On 10/09/18 13:25, Mal Rowe wrote:

> On 10/09/2018 9:04 PM, 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder wrote:

>> It is a tram driven by a computer, not a human.

>>

> Siemens' previous experience with this was with Melbourne suburban trains - where the computer drove the train through a buffer stop!

>

> Mal Rowe in a city a bit wary of Siemens transit products

>

That's 'cause some smartie who had obviously never been up the front end decided the modern computer controlled anti-lock braking didn't need sanders.

 I'm currently in Germany where I notice a number of Siemens (rail) products have what appear to be 'tacked on' sanding equipment. Melbourne may not be the only place where Siemens tried to tell the operator the train didn't need sanders due to superior braking control and then found out otherwise. (The Siemens ICE-T, class 411/415, but some of the other MU trains have 'tacked on' sandboxes too)

 Tramways have to research and trial autonomous (GoA4) driving as the road industry is moving that way - and if the street railway doesn't move to autonomy with the buses  there will be another wave of tram abandonments as they will not be able to compete on cost with autonomous buses that have no operator staff costs.

And just to be really confusing the road industry have come up with a different automation level scale than the rail industry. The road equivalent of railway GoA4 is SAE 5. (Full automation, no human operator fall back)

I do wonder about autonomous driving in crowded pedestrianized malls. People already walk in front of trams and scare the @$#@ out of the drivers. Once people get the idea that the computer will ALWAYS stop the vehicle if they walk in front, they will get even more blase about walking in front of trams (and buses) than they already are. Traffic will come to a standstill.