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Comment by throw310822 | Hacker News Reader

If any Dutch entrepreneur is listening: I have been dreaming about the same delivery mechanism for the Netherlands. Difference with Atlanta? There are canals everywhere, inside and outside the cities. It might be possible to just lay a waterproof pipe at the bottom of many existing canals to create an extremely cheap network for autonomous robotic deliveries.

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It feels like repairing such a system would be significantly more difficult - if you get a crack or a leak, your whole system is suddenly flooded, and if you need to repair just one section, you have to find a way to keep the rest dry.

Repairing it seems easier than if it is underground, but certainly it has a failure mode (leak/ flood) that a normal underground pipe doesn't have.

However we're talking about fairly shallow canals (a few metres). I wonder what is the failure rate for reasonably priced semi-flexible prefabricated pipes with a diameter of maybe a metre, or even less.

Probably can keep it pressurized enough to keep water out if there's a crack.

Seems like keeping them pressurised would add yet more costs. I would rather let the sections fail (assuming it's rare) and have automatic valves sealing the failed section from the rest (something very simple, like an inflating balloon that fills the entire diameter of the pipe).

why not use boats, on the surface of the water?

I think that moving inside a dedicated pipe makes it possible to deploy vehicles that are very simple yet fully autonomous. The only things a vehicle inside a pipe must take care of is keeping a reasonable speed, slowing down if there is an obstacle in front, and turning left/ right at marked intersections.

Boats are much more like traditional vehicles: they need to take in account the existing traffic, navigate a complex environment, and deal with weather conditions.

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