Connected/Automated vehicles and infrastructure in Boston

[Arlington]

In which we see AVs exploiting the mispricing of parking spaces:
Tesla Owner Uses 'Summon' to Remotely Move His Car to Avoid Parking Tickets

[Arlington]

In which we see AVs exploiting the mispricing of rush hour roads:

Self driving mobile-billboard trucks will be an obvious early and widespread commercial application of autonomous vehicles, particularly in rush hours, when they can be seen by a maximum number of high-income people.

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by Arlington

Self driving mobile-billboard trucks will be an obvious early and widespread commercial application of autonomous vehicles, particularly in rush hours, when they can be seen by a maximum number of high-income people.

Are mobile-billboards specially taxed in any way? If not, they should be. Or banned.

[bigpicture7]

Really interesting inside look at Uber's attempt at self-driving cars (about to resume after taking a hiatus following the death of a pedestrian).

Anyone interested in this should read this - it is not confidence inspiring. It speaks both to total dysfunction within Uber, as well as to the technological challenges.

The engineer in me, though, can appreciate that it is possible to do a much better job with this than Uber has been.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...-10-1027740254

[bakgwailo]

Originally Posted by bigpicture7

Really interesting inside look at Uber's attempt at self-driving cars (about to resume after taking a hiatus following the death of a pedestrian).

Anyone interested in this should read this - it is not confidence inspiring. It speaks both to total dysfunction within Uber, as well as to the technological challenges.

The engineer in me, though, can appreciate that it is possible to do a much better job with this than Uber has been.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...-10-1027740254

Wow - that is completely terrifying. How have they not gotten in a lot more trouble, and why would they be allowed to get back into automated car testing on public roads.

[Arlington]

I was at Assembly Square this week, which, between trader Joe's and Christmas Tree See was a zoo.

So of course the plan was that I would circle the block while my wife went in and shopped. I can only imagine that everyone will want to put their car into "circle the block" mode when there are no parking spots.

I will admit that my behavior was personally rational and value maximizing, but imposed high social costs (even worse traffic).

It is going to be a gridlock disaster unless we get both dynamic congestion pricing and parking pricing.

[Arlington]

This falls somewhere between this thread and "Crazy Transit Pitch"

But start by taking a look at 2 versions of the "campus shuttle" (videos linked at bottom)

And then consider that these are uniquely:
1) Light weight: able to operate on roads without deep foundations (aka, board walks, sidewalks, and bike paths)

2) Quiet: able to glide past fussy residents' back doors

3) Potentially very frequent; great for "last 2 miles" transit, particularly in places that are not upzoning but do want car-free alternatives. 11 seats every 5 minutes beats 55 seats every 25.

I'd basically run them:
- Every place there's a bike path on a RR ROW that could be widened
- Alongside DCR parkways
- Along riverfront boardwalks

Specifically, I'd design the Assembly-Casino bridge to handle them, and would use them as circulators in places like:
- Oak Grove to Melrose
- Wellington to Meadow Glen & Gateway Plaza
- GLX @ MVP and "out the parkways" and "along the Lowell Ln"
- Alewife to Concord Ave, Belmont, Fitchburg Cutoff & Arlington Center

You get the idea...places where a guideway could be just a 14' wide multiuse path.