Live data from Hacker News

Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

fastcodesign.com

41–50 of 59 posts

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#41
post #36
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Last Name (you'd be surprised at how common this was) How does this happen? Is knowing your surname just a weird European thing?

Young kids in the US are usually addressed by first name at home and at school, so maybe they simply do not get enough practice with their last name to automatically remember it? I bet that with most kids who don't remember when you ask them their last name would remember if you asked them what people like appliance repair people, exterminators, receptionists at the doctor's office, or their parents' bosses call thei…

Surprising to hear. I’m in New Zealand and can’t think of any situation where I’m called by my last name. Once a staff member at a nice hotel called me by my last name and my 5 year old fell about laughing.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#42
A few comments have mentioned the problem of bullying and harassment if there is no adult on board to supervise, and the small size (6 kids) making it infeasible to put an adult on each bus.

Perhaps this could be addressed by assigning kids to buses in such a way that a given bus only carries kids that normally spend unsupervised time together? With such small buses it should be possible to make it so that each bus is only occupied by people who normally play unsupervised together outside of school.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#43
post #28

Sure. 1. Put a bus monitor in an official looking uniform on the bus instead of a bus driver. 2. Have the bus route programmed into the bus. 3. Have each student badge/scan in to the bus, and determine which stops to make based on that. 4. Announce which student the stop is for, and have them badge/scan out. 5. Have a (opt-in) system that can alert parents if the student fails to scan in to the bus on the prescribed…

An enterprising student has been disciplined for taking money from other students in exchange for scanning their bus passes.....

/s

With a wry smile I cannot wait to see what the next generation of preteen hackers do with school-related automation.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#46

This is a side note: It's really interesting to me that whenever anyone talks about homeschooling children the point that is always raised by someone is that if children never leave the home then how will they learn to socialize with children their own age. Similarly, whenever people talk about skipping grades for exceptionally bright children someone always brings up socialization. Yet here we see many people talk a…

> Yet here we see many people talk about how leaving children unsupervised in a self driven bus is a recipe for disaster. Which seems to suggest that children socializing with their own age is a detriment to both society and the children themselves.

Kids can socialize even if they are supervised.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#47
post #36
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Last Name (you'd be surprised at how common this was) How does this happen? Is knowing your surname just a weird European thing?

Young kids in the US are usually addressed by first name at home and at school, so maybe they simply do not get enough practice with their last name to automatically remember it? I bet that with most kids who don't remember when you ask them their last name would remember if you asked them what people like appliance repair people, exterminators, receptionists at the doctor's office, or their parents' bosses call thei…

My son gets his last name and his middle name confused for exactly this reason. He's 5 and rides the bus.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#48
post #12

Lol. That schoolbus is is going to be in flames on the side of the road with 20 kids on it with no supervision.

I'm also in the no supervision would be a disaster boat, but just to clarify the concept bus only has 6 seats. "The design was influenced by campfires and dinner tables, and it ensures there’s no one sitting behind anyone else–likely reduced hair pulling and teasing as a result."

>but just to clarify the concept bus only has 6 seats.

And you think that will stop a middle school boys soccer team from tricking the sensors into thinking there's only six of them when there's really sixteen?

Kids can be quite smart when it comes to mischief.

Re: Would you send your kids to school on a self driving schoolbus?

#49
post #28

Sure. 1. Put a bus monitor in an official looking uniform on the bus instead of a bus driver. 2. Have the bus route programmed into the bus. 3. Have each student badge/scan in to the bus, and determine which stops to make based on that. 4. Announce which student the stop is for, and have them badge/scan out. 5. Have a (opt-in) system that can alert parents if the student fails to scan in to the bus on the prescribed…

An enterprising student has been disciplined for taking money from other students in exchange for scanning their bus passes..... /s With a wry smile I cannot wait to see what the next generation of preteen hackers do with school-related automation.

Can't help but concur, indeed. Sadly, I feel that I need to warn my children against this now. Plenty of harmless, curiosity-minded things that I did in high school 15 years ago could potentially result in a prison sentence these days. =(
Post reply on HN