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Comment by ams6110 | Hacker News Reader

One thing a driver does is monitor the vehicle for trouble. Fights, vandalism, etc. I think particularly on a college campus you're still going to need some kind of authority figure on board who can at least call for help if something inappropriate or criminal is happening.

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There could be a combination of the two. Say, six shuttles with one human watching camera feeds and monitoring for problems so they can contact the right people. That would help deal with corner situations like crime/vandalism and also service issues ("Hey dude, this guy is sick and just threw up" or "hey I think you ran over something the tire is flat").

Not necessarily wrong, but interesting test case for whether insuring the autonomous vehicle is cheaper then driving the poorly trained driver. Might still have a supervisor, but now they can put their undivided attention on the occupants.

Then perhaps the autonomous shuttles should be deployed in some country where university students do not vandalize vehicles nor fight on them. Such places do exist, and perhaps they deserve to reap the benefits.

It's not always the student body who do the robing, but outsiders; on the other hand, drunk students do occasionally make very poor choices when it comes to showing romantic interest.

Multiple video (with anti-vandalism hardening) lenses as well as two way radio (and speaker) should be able to handle most troubling cases with some central office dispatching campus police if things go downhill quick.

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