From YouTube comments, it seems was an experiment of 2023 with video only uploaded now. It also looks like was not that successful, as they were too slow, and ended up causing problems for the meat based drivers...
They're made of meat?
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Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
41–50 of 77 posts
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#42Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#43I was flying to Schiphol on Monday and use that airport as my favorite for long-haul flights, even though I'm from Germany. It's a really nice airport.
Weird, Schiphol is my least favorite major airport. Poor dining options, for one, but the worst is how narrow the pathways are. If you're trying to pass a gate that's within twenty minutes of the boarding time, you've got to push through a crowd. (And I can't blame the crowd, as there's not nearly enough seating.)
This is when flying Air France/KLM within Europe. Maybe it's better in other terminals.
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#44Any chance we can get the title modified to read "Schiphol airport ..." as many won't know if this is a company, a town, or what until paragraph 4 of the press release?
It's literally Amsterdam Airport? I don't think it needs clarification. It's like saying "JFK/Heathrow/LAX conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside"
Half of people I know wouldnt recognize LAX just casually mentioned, you may realize 95% of human population doesnt live in US and folks from many backgrounds come here.
I for example know the name only due to flying to/from it during work & travel stint during university times, otherwise nope. Simply not that famous in Europe, even JFK as an airport name aint guaranteed to be recognized here (but more than LAX).
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#45Self driving is a bit of a stretch here. There are already a lot locations around the world where autonomous vehicles are driving, even in the Nederlands. For example in the Netherlands there is a container terminal that has been using autonomous trucks for decades. And since 1999 there have been autonomous busses in Rotterdam. Yes they are self driving, but not as smart as self driving means today.
Yes there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting here. They obviously aren’t developing anything remotely like the Waymo/Cruise tech, and no reason to think they’ve developed anything useful even within some highly constrained setting. I’d guess it’s a corporate feel-good project that will be wound down after the press release.
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
These things have a high 'what might have been' future factor, but man they are annoying in practice. Because you have to wait for everyone to cram inside, it feels much slower than a train or moving walkway. They're very frustrating after a long flight when you just want to get to customs and get home.
I grew up near Dulles. Everybody seems to hate on the mobile lounges, but I've never not beaten my luggage to the baggage claim, and I haven't found it any quicker to get from my gate to the exit at other similarly large airports. In any event they are being retired in favor of below-ground trains.
Partly, that's because the luggage processing is very slow on international flights at Dulles. You have to go through immigration, which can be time consuming (though the automated ones are better of late). There's no reason you should get to baggage claim ahead of the baggage.
Aside from that, though... I think it's just that it feels like an additional step. You want to get going -- especially if you're the sort of person who moves quickly through airports -- and now you're just waiting as the lounge fills up. After a long international flight, you don't want to be sitting and waiting.
I won't be sorry to see the mobile lounges go. They were a clever idea at the time, but they're hardly "lounges" these days. They're just buses, at a time when you really, really don't want to be taking a bus.
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#47From YouTube comments, it seems was an experiment of 2023 with video only uploaded now. It also looks like was not that successful, as they were too slow, and ended up causing problems for the meat based drivers...
They're made of meat?
Totally: https://youtu.be/T6JFTmQCFHg
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#48Any chance we can get the title modified to read "Schiphol airport ..." as many won't know if this is a company, a town, or what until paragraph 4 of the press release?
Seconded
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#49I was flying to Schiphol on Monday and use that airport as my favorite for long-haul flights, even though I'm from Germany. It's a really nice airport.
I hate Schiphol, and my family tend to call it by a name that rhymes.
Re: Schiphol conducts trial with self-driving buses on airside
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I grew up near Dulles. Everybody seems to hate on the mobile lounges, but I've never not beaten my luggage to the baggage claim, and I haven't found it any quicker to get from my gate to the exit at other similarly large airports. In any event they are being retired in favor of below-ground trains.
Partly, that's because the luggage processing is very slow on international flights at Dulles. You have to go through immigration, which can be time consuming (though the automated ones are better of late). There's no reason you should get to baggage claim ahead of the baggage. Aside from that, though... I think it's just that it feels like an additional step. You want to get going -- especially if you're the sort of…
> Partly, that's because the luggage processing is very slow on international flights at Dulles. You have to go through immigration, which can be time consuming (though the automated ones are better of late). There's no reason you should get to baggage claim ahead of the baggage.
Somewhat OT, but I just realized I've never flown internationally from Dulles. I've flown internationally a fair amount, and I've flown from Dulles a lot, but never the two together.
Less OT, everything I wrote was for domestic flights.