[tedsuo]

Contracts aside there’s a real issue: the human is there primarily to deal with other humans and all the random issues that pop up (which, as a regular bart rider, I assure you are plentiful).

You could shift the model around and maybe have a “station attendant” rather than a “driver,” but it’s an issue that I don’t see addressed in many autonomous conversations. The bus driver doesn’t just drive the bus, they also regulate and deal with all the bullshit happening on and around the bus.

Automation-in-public has so many issues beyond it’s closed-course equivalent, where you simply have to drive the vehicle. It will be a much bigger adjustment than just high quality autopilot.