World's first autonomous tram launched

[Still Waters 31,804]

The world’s first autonomous tram was launched in unspectacular style in the city of Potsdam, west of Berlin, on Friday. The Guardian was the first English-language newspaper to be offered a ride on the vehicle developed by a team of 50 computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists at the German engineering company Siemens.

Fitted with multiple radar, lidar (light from a laser), and camera sensors, forming digital eyes that film the tram and its surroundings during every journey, the tram reacts to trackside signals and can respond to hazards faster than a human.

Its makers say it is some way from being commercially viable but they do expect it to contribute to the wider field of driverless technology, and have called it an important milestone on the way to autonomous driving.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/23/potsdam-inside-the-worlds-first-autonomous-tram

[third_eye 28,931]

In other words, nobody who really needs a tram ride can afford to ride this one ...

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