CNBC posted a video of a first look at the new Vegas Loop at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Interesting that they're using an app to call a vehicle, kind of like Lyft/Uber.
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CNBC Tour of the Vegas Loop System
- Thread starter DDotJ
- Start date
Cheburashka
Active Member
Seems pretty dumb and slow. I think a few buses would be more effective.
Also, a pretty expensive system to operate, so long as they have a safety driver in each model 3 (ie one operater for every three passengers even at peak load)
Seems like they're trying to use fancy lighting to make a silly system look futuristic.
Seems like they're trying to use fancy lighting to make a silly system look futuristic.
Cheburashka
Active Member
Even without the safety driver, the Model 3 just isn't a good vehicle for moving lots of people across a short distance. I've been to the LVCC where they ran the autonomous minibus outside and that made way more sense since it fit more people and you didn't have to actually sit in it.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
This is just the initial stage. Later the vehicles will be autonomous and efficient transportation pods will be introduced.
Biggest issue now is that the tunnels have no congestion like surface streets. Cuts the time to travel by over 90%.
Biggest issue now is that the tunnels have no congestion like surface streets. Cuts the time to travel by over 90%.
I mean, neither does space or the air.... maybe Elon should have focused on autonomous drones.
Cheburashka
Active Member
The only reason it has no congestion is because it has like 10 cars for the whole thing. No congestion but also no throughput.
I understand that that's the plan. But until I see it actually happen I'm not going to give the system credit for having autonomous vehicles or more efficient pods. Musk's companies have a tendency to try to get credit in the present for things that don't actually yet exist, may not exist for years, may never exist, and may exist only with major reconstruction. (we're now about five years past the point where he started selling cars with hardware "capable" of "full self driving" and started charging people for full-self-drive functionality (to be delivered after software validation-- yet the initial hardware wasn't in fact capable of full self drive, he has yet to actually deliver anything that remotely resembles functional autonomy software, and he's essentially dropped the notion that "full self-drive" actually means that the car can operate without a fully alert licensed driver behind the wheel and ready to take control in case he or she predicts the computer isn't going to handle something well).
So, for now, he's delivered a short tunnel with three stations that are served by a fleet of Model 3's that can operate only when individually staff with a safety driver. These cars operate at a slow speed (though admittedly somewhat faster than the effective speed of surface street traffic that has to stop at signals), and he has not really shown how, in an expanded system with more stations and point-to-point trip options, his single-lane tunnels will be able to handle a substantial throughput safely and without experiencing congestion as vehicles merge in and out and take branches. And, the more stations there are, the harder it will be to dispatch full vehicles on every leg of point-to-point journeys; which decreases rider capacity even more.
In other words, Musk hasn't really done much except show that he can dig a wide sewer tunnel. with no branches and only three stations; have trained safety drivers operate a small number of cars slowly along it (probably primarily autonomous, but the staff drivers still have to be there; and make it look futuristic with club lighting.
Cheburashka
Active Member
Also... In this post-COVID world, its going to be pretty tough to get people who don't know each other to crowd into a small sedan like the model three. And Tesla has implied that trips will be charged by the vehicle, rather than by the seat. And, the more station pairs you have the less likelyhood there will be multiple parties going between the same station pairs at the same time. So, lots of vehicles will wind up going out with just one or two passengers. This will be more like a cab than like a shuttle-bus. But the capacity estimations all assume that every vehicle will be full.
Well, to be fair, a sewer tunnel with lots of cool lighting and wit Teslas driving 30mph through it.
Even though this is a transit system and not a theme park ride, Musk seems to really feel like the lighting is important. Maybe because without the colorful lighting it would look too much like what it actua;ly is: a sewer tunnel with some slow driving Teslas. He seems to think that this thing is like the super-speed tunnel (later the Tron tunnel) on the old Peoplemover at Disneyland.
I prefer light rail/trams as solution to mass transit, it's electric, simple, transports more people, tried and tested, safer and less maintenance. The DLR is autonomous as well.
But I guess that's a public/state solution to the problem. It doesn't matter that the richest countries in the world, with the highest standard of living, Luxemburg and Switzerland are covered with them, Americans shouldn't have them, that would be communist...
But I guess that's a public/state solution to the problem. It doesn't matter that the richest countries in the world, with the highest standard of living, Luxemburg and Switzerland are covered with them, Americans shouldn't have them, that would be communist...
The “highest standard of living” point is exactly the problem. The fellow passengers in American mass transit leave a lot to be desired. That’s why most people I know avoid using mass transit. We don’t want to be around people high on meth, gangsters, etc. This problem doesn’t exist in Switzerland.
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