Allison Slater

No, the problem in those cases are the driver stops monitoring the vehicle. They get complacent after many times of it working fine, start reading Facebook on their phone, and then bam! It's people who are treating their level 2 automation as though it's level 4 or 5. The driver needs to monitor the road fully until level 4 in all situations. A Tesla can fully drive itself on highways (it both maintains speed and keeps a lane, which means it exceeds level 1 -- it also can change lanes to overtake slower vehicles and navigate on/off ramps and interchanges), and a recent update gave it the ability to handle stoplights as well iirc (so it should be able to handle the beltline now), but it still must be monitored by the driver at all times because it's not perfect yet, and the driver cannot begin to ignore the road until level 4.

There are several levels of automation, and we essentially have to pass through each one. Level 0 - No automation. Level 1 - Extremely limited automation that still requires input from driver. Like maintaining speed, or staying inside a lane. Level 2 - Limited automation that allows the driver to take hands off of controls in specific situations, like automated highway driving. This is where most Teslas are. Level 3 - Automated driving. Able to handle most situations but still requires a driver to monitor in case it fails. May be area-limited and need driver input in unusual situations. This should be where these automated buses are: Level 3, although they could be entering Level 4 territory. Level 4 - Fully automated and can do entire trips by itself, but may not be able to handle unusual situations. Level 5 - Full automation at or beyond a human driver's capability, including unusual situations. Right now Level 4 is the holy grail of automated driving. Everyone's still at Level 3, and are having difficulty reaching level 4. In order to reach Level 4, the automated driving systems need to continue to learn and collect more data. In order to do that, more driving and road miles are needed at levels 2 and 3. That's likely what they're doing with these buses. Additionally, there's likely some regulatory laws preventing them from going driverless even if they reached Level 4, and it's trials like these which will help them convince lawmakers to allow driverless buses.

Because it's more about working on future technologies than it is adding more buses.

That looks pretty bearable to me to walk through.

I think it's fine, actually. Not every street has to be a pedestrian utopia of perfection. As long as it's safe and isn't off-putting, it's fine for any street that isn't a retail corridor. If this were facing Monroe, then yeah, I'd have a problem with it, but this is Michigan.

So, what you're saying is, Mansard Roofs would be a good way to get some extra height..

I wouldn't call it an extra floor... It's not immediately noticeable but there is a clear structure matching the current roof about a couple feet raised from the current roof. I'm guessing this will be the new roof, they'll finish this roof for waterproofing and then remove the old roof. All while extensive interior work is done.

It's a matter of balance. Most people get around by car, so you can't just go ignoring cars everywhere. You still need to set aside some thoroughfares to be primary car routes; Fulton is one of those. If you look at a city like Tokyo, you'll see roads of varying tiers. There's highways which are car only, wide avenues which are primarily car with pedestrian crossings forcibly limited, ordinary roads in which car and pedestrian are equal, side streets which are more pedestrian heavy, and ped malls which are only pedestrian. Each one serves its role and purpose and contributes to the city. It's important to allow people to move about the city, but people use cars and those also need to move about the city. It's a matter of knowing which streets need to serve which purposes. Fulton is not one that should be shifted away from car use. About halfway between Knapp and 3 Mile, sometimes all the way up to 3 Mile is where the backup reaches.

Hey, you know what'd be cool? Let's -activate- Fulton by turning it into one lane in each direction! *sarcasm* Maybe we could benefit from some sort of railing down the middle like they do in Japan to physically prevent left turns without impacting space for traffic? Or even just those cone things being used on Division with the bike lanes (although railings look nicer and won't get destroyed in winter by the plows)

Perhaps the clay cap at Butterworth is thinner, adding extra restriction as to what could be done with it? Or maybe its sheer size affects that? I would love to see that solar array. I wonder how it could be revived?

What's the record? How many did we have up during the last boom cycle?

The fountains are the #1 thing I miss about the old Woodland ;_;

They did, on a very, very tiny lot. I like the whole design, it could be very interesting. And I'm still imagining a great night market in the alley. I wonder if it will be a good place for food trucks?

Oh, wow, I hope it's still there tomorrow so I can get a good look at it.

I get the feeling this is going to go up FAST.

They still have a big grassy area out front, don't they?

I don't know of any recent renovation at Red Hot.

That new alley looks like a perfect place for a night market

The Hideout I don't think was an example of this trend, as from what I'm aware the owners just wanted to step away from it. They had a lot of interest from people wanting to purchase and continue The Hideout, but the landlord blocked all attempts to do so, forcing them to close.

Priority bought the properties and will turn them into parking lots so they can expand their current building into their existing parking lot. I'm really sad to see Red Hot go. I love that place.

So in order to get to Monroe Center ramp from Ionia & Fountain, that means they have to either temporarily reverse the direction of Ionia or temporarily make it two-way. I wonder how that will work with the traffic lights.

I don't think this is an age thing. I've seen all sorts of people talking about it nation-wide. The media industry is struggling. Newer skilled journalists use youtube and other sites to just run independent outlets while people pay less and less attention to traditional media, leaving traditional media to largely scrape the bottom of the barrel and rely on cheap, low-effort gimmick just to stay afloat.

I've come across quite a few others with fairly intact Downtowns. Mainstee and Mason come to mind.

The brick on the building on the NE corner is looking really good so far.

Additionally, I think half the EV sales right now are all in Tesla, and laws in Michigan no thanks to automaker lobbyists have made it very difficult to purchase Teslas in Michigan.