More Rumours of New Transportation Options for Walt Disney World

Tekneek;2500905 wrote: There is going to be some serious maintenance required in order for it to stay safe. If everything is not functioning properly, there is no human to compensate. Disney is not exactly famous for staying ahead on its maintenance these days.

Tekneek;2501087 wrote: Sure they are, so long as everything is functioning properly.

True everything has to function properly for it to work. However, maintenance is not the primary key to safety in autonomous (self driving) vehicles. The key is fail safe programming so when a sensor fails or a drive motor fails or whatever the case may be, the operating system is programmed to handle it in a safe manner. If a critical sensor fails or something of that nature, the vehicle will be programmed to come to a safe stop and await a technician to come troubleshoot the failure before being reset and returned to operation. They could also easily program the entire system to act upon the failure of any one vehicle. If one fails and has to stop, the others react by either stopping where they are or reroute to an alternative path or direction.

These things can be made far safer than human drivers because they are all programmed to react the same way predictably every single time a failure occurs. With humans, you never know what they will do, they are very unpredictable. A perfect example is the accidents with the monorail a few years ago. That could have all been avoided with automated safety software that takes over controlling the vehicles like is in place now.

Personally, I look forward to the day when car travel is automated and I don't have to worry about if the distracted driver tailgating me on the Interstate is going to notice that traffic ahead is stopping. Just build in fail-safes to prevent HAL from kicking me out of the car going down the road... :mickey:

WDW-Geek;2501282 wrote: Personally, I look forward to the day when car travel is automated and I don't have to worry about if the distracted driver tailgating me on the Interstate is going to notice that traffic ahead is stopping. Just build in fail-safes to prevent HAL from kicking me out of the car going down the road... :mickey:

I played up the safety concerns from poor maintenance, but the real concern is the security of the vehicle's systems, both internally and externally. Vulnerabilities are being found in vehicles all the time and a deployment like Disney would likely have is going to attract hackers. It's all very interesting.

I used to enjoy driving when I was younger, but as I grow older and crankier it's just a chore. I would welcome the day when some robot did the driving for me and I could just nap in the back seat. Bring it on!

RunDMV;2500862 wrote: yeah. just like the buggy whip manufacturer lost his job to a mechanic.

Perfectly said. With innovation, lost jobs due to technology lead increases job demand in another field. You can't stay static.

MrPeetrie;2502093 wrote: Perfectly said. With innovation, lost jobs due to technology lead increases job demand in another field. You can't stay static.

Not to totally derail this post, but I work in digital consulting and we were at a conference this past week where this was really the hottest topic on the floor.

Historically the "buggy whip manufacturer" idea has held fast, but the problem today is that things are evolving so quickly with the quantum leaps technology that humans are getting left behind at such a rapid pace that they can't adjust quickly enough to keep up. Entire industries are getting wiped out seemingly overnight leaving hundreds of thousands out of work with no warning. Uber did it to the taxi industry and, ironically enough, autonomous vehicles are going to do it to the Uber drivers in the next five years.

Heck even Bill Gates is calling for robots to pay taxes to help ease the transition for the folks they leave out of work.

Ian;2502466 wrote: Not to totally derail this post, but I work in digital consulting and we were at a conference this past week where this was really the hottest topic on the floor.

Historically the "buggy whip manufacturer" idea has held fast, but the problem today is that things are evolving so quickly with the quantum leaps technology that humans are getting left behind at such a rapid pace that they can't adjust quickly enough to keep up. Entire industries are getting wiped out seemingly overnight leaving hundreds of thousands out of work with no warning. Uber did it to the taxi industry and, ironically enough, autonomous vehicles are going to do it to the Uber drivers in the next five years.

Heck even Bill Gates is calling for robots to pay taxes to help ease the transition for the folks they leave out of work.

Yes, that is why the scotch/whiskey industry is booming.

But, as far as WDW, I don't care as long as they can increase volume. Need more, faster. That being said, I remember how well the FP stuff worked when first released... I wouldn't be on the first automated transports for a few months