China to build giant buses that cars can drive under • Hacker News Board

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#11

Post by Create » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 3:28 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #3

Are those really busses or are they trains? This scheme looks cool, until I try to picture what happens during turns. Remember that "large vehicles make large turns." One way to think about it is that "turn radius" of the from wheels is much larger than for the back wheels. It's more complicated than that, but it's the gist. EDIT: Watching the video now. The "bus" is divided into many sections which need to "snake" a…

Are those really buss[^H]es or are they trains?

You can cross the bus with the tram:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Trolleybus

...with the articulated bus: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Articulated_b...

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#12

Post by rmundo » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 3:29 PM UTC

This concept was brought up in one of the Patlabor anime movies, except instead of buses, it was police/fire/ambulance/emergency vehicles that could move over congested traffic to get to an accident scene more quickly.

Kudos to the Chinese for being willing to try it out, but the concept existed at least in 2001(if it was Patlabor 3) or 1993(Patlabor 2)

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#13

Post by KoZeN » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 4:01 PM UTC

There must a transport revolution going on in China. It instantly reminded me of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Ig19gYP9o

These trains that never stop seem a lot more feasible than the buses. Granted it would require a massive amount of work from an infrastructure perspective but it seems like such a brilliant solution that would make public transport infinitely more appealing.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#14

Post by i80and » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 4:10 PM UTC

Ardit20 wrote: post #10

Maybe one day, say the year 3000 cars will be driving under cars, under cars, under cars. We can only go up to the skies.

Then, one day, boom--stack overflow. Civilization collapses in a cosmic recursion-induced segfault.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#15

Post by gojomo » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 4:36 PM UTC

If both 'layers' of traffic are moving, not sure this is any better than a double-decker bus. Certainly, it has less route flexibility, if it requires special rail/roadway support.

My hunch is that computer-driven cars are the real transport innovation we should be concentrated on. When a region can go 100%-auto-auto, it will increase road capacity and eliminate congestion, without tearing up roads with massive new (and inflexible) rail construction.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#16

Post by adolph » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 4:53 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #8

jerf wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This strikes as feasible, assuming total computerized control of all the vehicles, both the "bus" and the cars trying to drive under it. Humans will be smashing the sides of that bus with frightful regularity, though. And by the time you have that, there are probably way better ways to deal with traffic than this sort of crazy contraption. Even if this ever becomes practical I have a hard time seeing it ever being th…

Humans will be smashing the sides of that bus with frightful regularity, though. I'm pretty sure Houston drivers would be. They can't even deal with light rail on city streets! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2rdGX4JYc

Based on my own observations I take it as a given that people regularly break traffic rules. Car-car smashes happen with frightful regularity too. It isn't a Houston-only issue.

The reasons for this may be carelessness or disregard--reasons don't really matter. The behavior exists and rules/signs don't appear to mitigate very successfully (especially strange signs and irregular rules you don't see anywhere else).

Carelessness and disregard are part of the human condition and why defensive driving is great. It follows the robustness principal of "Be conservative in what you send; be liberal in what you accept."

Unfortunately, the performance envelope of Houston's passenger train precludes defensive driving on its part. It can't be a good street-citizen.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#17

Post by Flying » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 5:07 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #3

Are those really busses or are they trains? This scheme looks cool, until I try to picture what happens during turns. Remember that "large vehicles make large turns." One way to think about it is that "turn radius" of the from wheels is much larger than for the back wheels. It's more complicated than that, but it's the gist. EDIT: Watching the video now. The "bus" is divided into many sections which need to "snake" a…

The video says that when the bus has to turn, it will turn on the red light for the lanes under it that is not turning with it.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#18

Post by natep » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 5:10 PM UTC

KoZeN wrote: post #13

There must a transport revolution going on in China. It instantly reminded me of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Ig19gYP9o These trains that never stop seem a lot more feasible than the buses. Granted it would require a massive amount of work from an infrastructure perspective but it seems like such a brilliant solution that would make public transport infinitely more appealing.

This was posted to HN before. The comments on that were basically, it's been done before, and wasn't economical/safe. Keep in mind, you still have to spend energy to accelerate the cars, and there are a lot of safety issues introduced by the extra complexity.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#19

Post by mortenjorck » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 5:16 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #3

Are those really busses or are they trains? This scheme looks cool, until I try to picture what happens during turns. Remember that "large vehicles make large turns." One way to think about it is that "turn radius" of the from wheels is much larger than for the back wheels. It's more complicated than that, but it's the gist. EDIT: Watching the video now. The "bus" is divided into many sections which need to "snake" a…

This effectively becomes an elevated train with a vastly less expensive infrastructure buildout. Genius.

Re: China to build giant buses that cars can drive under

#20

Post by stcredzero » Mon, Aug 02, 2010, 5:36 PM UTC

adolph wrote: post #16

stcredzero wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans will be smashing the sides of that bus with frightful regularity, though. I'm pretty sure Houston drivers would be. They can't even deal with light rail on city streets! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2rdGX4JYc

Based on my own observations I take it as a given that people regularly break traffic rules. Car-car smashes happen with frightful regularity too. It isn't a Houston-only issue. The reasons for this may be carelessness or disregard--reasons don't really matter. The behavior exists and rules/signs don't appear to mitigate very successfully (especially strange signs and irregular rules you don't see anywhere else). Car…

Having lived in Houston for 7 years, I'd say we have a much bigger problem with the car drivers not being "a good street-citizen." I wouldn't say it's Houston only, but there is a lot of it here. There's a lot of just plain pinhead disregard for physics and common sense here.