Hey

On Saturday, 18 May 2019 11:23:49 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:
>

> With recent discussions about Driverless Trams in street running, this is

> a letter as penned to the LRTA monthly “Tramways and Urban Transit”. The

> Editor made some minor changes, and this was forwarded to me for final

> checking. He was holding it over until an upcoming news story about

> driverless technology testing in Moscow was published. I could have added

> that tram drivers have to use ‘Controlled Aggression’.

>

> Regards,

>

>

> "The increasing interest in investigating autonomous and driverless trams

> is something that is sure to attract the attention of many readers. I think

> it should be progressed, however as a former Melbourne driver, I am

> particularly interested in how the concept will deal with people on the

> track.

> Programming trams to stop before hitting anyone should be simple enough as

> this technology is already applied to other road vehicles. I just wonder

> how it would handle some scenarios which confronted me, daily on the Route

> 96 ‘Light Rail’ between St Kilda Beach and East Brunswick?

> In the city it runs through the Bourke Street Mall where people may wander

> anywhere they like. Besides distracted pedestrians, buskers ply their trade

> at lunchtime each day; the more successful ones draw a good audience which

> can extend over the tramlines. What would the driverless tram do in such a

> situation – sit there until the crowd disperses after the busker has

> finished?

> On two night-time occasions, I had a large mob totally blocking the

> street, including the tram tracks. The first was on Swanson Street, just

> north of the city centre and outside the university where students from

> that establishment formed the crowd. The second was the Bourke Street Mall,

> approaching Midnight one New Years’ Eve. How long would a driverless tram

> sit patiently there? How badly would the service be delayed?

> In my case, with both groups, I slowed my approach so as to be able to

> stop the tram very quickly if anybody did not move, but still maintained

> enough speed to clearly show that I had no intention of stopping. I rang

> the gong repeatedly and with the *B* class in the Mall I also flashed the

> high beam headlight on and off every few seconds.

> On both occasions the crowd dispersed and let me through unobstructed – a

> truly spectacular sight! I lost maybe 5-10 seconds on each occasion and the

> same approach works the same with much smaller obstructions.

> I also wonder what a fully-automated tram would do when faced with a group

> of young people who, upon realising that the tram is driverless, decide to

> intentionally bring it to a stop for as long as possible. Such people would

> not last 5 seconds against the average Melbourne tram driver – and likely

> any other operator anywhere in the world.

> *Richard Youl, Gold Coast (Australia)*

>