First The Gondolas,Now....

[WEDWDW]

Driverless shuttles!

Mickey is really stepping up his transportation game!

http://www.wdwmagic.com/transportat...nger-vehicles-coming-to-walt-disney-world.htm

 

[aristocatz]

Thanks for posting this-very exciting! I wonder if there will be a charge for the new transportation....I hope not.
I also wonder how the driverless cars will work. Meaning, will they just fit families or be the size of buses, how many will be issued (which would affect wait time, etc)

 

[HopperFan]

Let's not forget that "driver-less" floats were the main problem with Rivers of Light. Not sure this is Disney's forte.

Thanks for posting this-very exciting! I wonder if there will be a charge for the new transportation....I hope not.
I also wonder how the driverless cars will work. Meaning, will they just fit families or be the size of buses, how many will be issued (which would affect wait time, etc)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...s-shuttles-at-theme-parks-20170428-story.html

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-disney-shuttles-20170428-story.html

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Nope.

 

[Kaytie]

Interesting that the article made no mention of Disney's recently announced Über-like service.

 

[joelkfla]

I don't think they're ready to play in traffic yet, and at 10 mph, they're not practical for the long distances between parks anyway.

I could see them maybe replacing the parking lot trams during slow midday periods. Or maybe running on lightly-traveled pedestrian paths, like BW to DHS, or DS to OKW.

 

[OKW Lover]

This is going to be an interesting application for the technology. Nice that Disney is going to first test them on CM's first with back-stage transportation. Hope it all works out and that regular guests will be able to try this.

 

[keishashadow]

'Troubled' Uber has been testing self driving cars (in PIT for last 7 months).

Perhaps the mouse should just spend $60Billion+ to buy Uber and be done with it

 

[JimMIA]

Hopefully, they'll work better than Uber's! Uber's tend to crash into things, roll over, etc.

I'm assuming the 10 mph is maximum speed -- which is much faster than walking. I'm struggling to imagine a driverless vehicle working it's way through pedestrians around the Carousel at MK at 10 mph...or even 5 mph!

 

[joelkfla]

I'm assuming the 10 mph is maximum speed -- which is much faster than walking.

Actually, the vendors say the top speed is 25, but nobody trusts them to go that fast yet.

I'm struggling to imagine a driverless vehicle working it's way through pedestrians around the Carousel at MK at 10 mph...or even 5 mph!

I don't think they're smart enough to work their way through anything. From what I've seen on YouTube, if anything gets in front of them, they just stop until it moves out of the way. I really don't think you'll be seeing them in the parks or on heavily travelled roads. Even if they do have the capability, Disney wouldn't want to take on the risk until they've built up a track record of safety.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'm struggling to imagine a driverless vehicle working it's way through pedestrians around the Carousel at MK at 10 mph...or even 5 mph!

They won't be. The story says they are going to be tested for back-stage movement of CM's. After that, perhaps they will be used in the parking lots. I think they will be pretty good in those locations.

 

[MillauFr]

Glad Disney is being proactive and trying to solve one of the biggest flaws with Disneyworld. The long travel times between the hotels and the parks. Our family is so spoiled by Disneyland where you can walk from the offsite hotels to the front gates at Disneyland in 10 minutes. Park hop from Disneyland to California Adventure? No problem a 3 minute walk between the two. Driverless vehicle when perfected could greatly reduce the transportation issues at the Florida parks.

 

[bumbershoot]

Glad Disney is being proactive and trying to solve one of the biggest flaws with Disneyworld. The long travel times between the hotels and the parks.

You're traversing an area that's bigger than many small cities. Of course there will be some time involved.

But I don't feel it's "long". Then again we generally have a rental car and nothing feels far when you're driving yourself. At least not to us!


Driverless cars are ridiculous imo.

 

[MillauFr]

Driverless cars are ridiculous imo.

Letting 40,000 people needlessly die in auto accidents every year is really ridiculous. Driverless cars can't arrive soon enough for me. Humans are generally terrible drivers and get into far too many accidents.

 

[mom2rtk]

Letting 40,000 people needlessly die in auto accidents every year is really ridiculous. Driverless cars can't arrive soon enough for me. Humans are generally terrible drivers and get into far too many accidents.

It's the mix of driverless cars with people driven cars that concerns me. And it's what I think will tank the whole driverless movement.

 

[keishashadow]

Hopefully, they'll work better than Uber's! Uber's tend to crash into things, roll over, etc.

I'm assuming the 10 mph is maximum speed -- which is much faster than walking. I'm struggling to imagine a driverless vehicle working it's way through pedestrians around the Carousel at MK at 10 mph...or even 5 mph!

So many sunbelt cities are high on pedestrian fatalities. MCO is #1, dubious distinction. Not sure of the wisdom of this application in the parks unless it's of a very slow backstage/non pedestrian walkway type. There are several other companies are on track with this sort of technology.

Uber's driverless program is out of PIT where i live. No major issues reported here. My understanding that the AZ one said was due to other vehicle/driver error. Should a robot be held to a higher standard that a human?

Really not a fan as i hate to see another sector of jobs lost to automation.

It's the mix of driverless cars with people driven cars that concerns me. And it's what I think will tank the whole driverless movement.

One thing that could tank it is the individual state's laws. New technology such as this needs to have oversights, including using public streets as a testing ground. Believe CA is only state with laws in place. PA, with the initial test in place for some time, still hasn't firmed up regulations.

 

[joelkfla]

So many sunbelt cities are high on pedestrian fatalities. MCO is #1, dubious distinction. Not sure of the wisdom of this application in the parks unless it's of a very slow backstage/non pedestrian walkway type. There are several other companies are on track with this sort of technology.

I really don't think they'll be inside the parks; at least not with the current technology. Imagine how difficult and slow it would be to try to drive your own car through a crowded park. Now picture a driverless vehicle, which comes to a halt whenever someone or something passes within a few feet in front of it. It would never make any progress.

Uber's driverless program is out of PIT where i live. No major issues reported here. My understanding that the AZ one said was due to other vehicle/driver error. Should a robot be held to a higher standard that a human?

In SF, before they were driven out, there were several reports of Uber autonomous cars running red lights. Now, some of those reports were by taxi drivers, but at least one was caught on video.

One thing that could tank it is the individual state's laws. New technology such as this needs to have oversights, including using public streets as a testing ground. Believe CA is only state with laws in place. PA, with the initial test in place for some time, still hasn't firmed up regulations.

Florida has been designated as an official testing ground for driverless vehicles. A cityscape is under construction in Lakeland for closed course testing, and the media said to expect them on the streets of Orlando within a couple of years.