There is a system of automatic steering for land transport vehicles that has
been proven to work. It has been around for about 200 years and has been very
effective, particularly when combined with modern electronic communications,
as is the case in Japan. That system is called rail.
Of course, the Japanese case I am referring to is the famous "Bullet Train,"
which was introduced at about the time of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Bullet
trains operated for over 30 years without a single passenger fatality. One
passenger was killed on a Bullet Train, in Dec. 1995, in a boarding accident.
Subj: alt-transp automation
Date: 98-12-28 18:05:23 EST
From: [log in to unmask] (John Holtzclaw)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Sierra Club Forum on
Transportation Issues)
Reply-to: [log in to unmask] (Sierra Club Forum on
Transportation Issues)
To: [log in to unmask]
Here is a piece from the Philadelphia Inquirer about the high-tech
gadgets that are going to revolutionize auto travel.
=========================================
POTSDAM, Germany -- A German couple out for a Christmas drive near Berlin
ended up in a river -- apparently because their luxury car's computer forgot
to mention they had to wait for a ferry.
The 57-year-old driver and his passenger were not injured in the accident,
police said yesterday.
The German couple were out driving Friday night when they came to a ferry
crossing at the Havel River in Caputh, six miles from Berlin. That
information, however, was never stored in the satellite-steered navigation
system they were using.
The driver kept going straight in the dark, expecting a bridge, and ended up
in the water
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From: John Holtzclaw <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: alt-transp automation
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