I had an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN today. Rochester is in the process of testing out a couple goofy little autonomous shuttle buses that cycle around the Mayo campus (see pic below.) The street in the picture is one way; I was a half block forward from that spot, in the right hand lane getting ready to make a right hand turn at the next intersection. The bus was in the lane next to me, and as we approached the intersection it started to pull into my lane. I stepped on the gas and got out of its way before it sideswiped me, so no harm done, but I think they still need to do some fine tuning on its situational awareness. 
Conspiracy theory... they're drumming up business for the ER?
It was asserting dominance. You yielded, so it has learned that humans are easily cowed. This is not the lesson we want the robots to learn. Stand your ground!
City buses in Ottawa are all driver operated and we also experience errant lane changes and intentional lane crowding.... maybe Richmond hired an ex OCTranspo driver to program the autonomous units?
Just kidding...
Even robots can't figure out merging?
Mr_Asa
PowerDork
4/6/22 5:02 p.m.
I was attacked by an autonomous bus
Did it turn you into a newt?
A friend was a tech for Uber's autonomous driving program. They'd update the software daily, sometimes more than once. One day he found that his car was in "stalker mode" as it would slowly shadow pedestrians. I think they fixed that in a matter of hours, but for a little bit there, big brother looked kinda menacing.
They are learning well.
In reply to ggarrard :
The most important lesson in defensive driving is that the best defense is a good offense.
Self driving cars are just another thing taking away people's jobs....
Every time I see autonomous I instantly think "did you people not see Battlestar Gallactica?"
ggarrard said:
City buses in Ottawa are all driver operated and we also experience errant lane changes and intentional lane crowding.... maybe Richmond hired an ex OCTranspo driver to program the autonomous units?
Just kidding...
From my time in Montreal, I was told that if there's a collision between you and the bus, it's your fault.
Maybe it's a Canadian thing.
Mr_Asa said:
I was attacked by an autonomous bus
Did it turn you into a newt?
(sheepishly) It got better.
The buses had to rise up and strike back eventually.
In reply to Karacticus :
It's not a rule here, but a lot of our collisions involve people running into stopped or slowing buses. When we started installing cameras our drivers hated the idea of being watched, but it's turning out that even fewer are at fault than before.
triumph7 said:
Mr_Asa said:
I was attacked by an autonomous bus
Did it turn you into a newt?
(sheepishly) It got better.
It was more like "None shall pass!"
It only gets worse from here.
It's law in Ontario that drivers yield to buses. At least in cities.
IIRC, isn't that exactly how Maximum Overdrive started?
Stuart, you have PM
Its a fun fun future we live in.
Mndsm
MegaDork
4/7/22 8:57 a.m.
Keith Tanner said:
It was asserting dominance. You yielded, so it has learned that humans are easily cowed. This is not the lesson we want the robots to learn. Stand your ground!
Yep, the robot revolution is underway.
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
I still don't trust engineers and programmers making decisions about where a vehicle will go from a desk many weeks or months in the past, but that future is coming. Glad you are okay.
