Would You Ride in a Self-Driving Car?

We did. And there were some problems. [View this email in your browser]( We Went for a Ride in a Self-Driving Car. Would You? Plus: A long stretch of Brooklyn is getting a protected bike lane. A heroic signal operator jumped onto the tracks and saved a woman from being hit by a Q train. And a bat got on a plane. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) Scott Heins/Gothamist They're here...sort of. As of yesterday, six self-driving cars are shuttling around the private streets of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, carrying up to four passengers (plus a software engineer and a "safety driver") between the ferry terminal and the complex's entrance on Flushing Avenue. The next step for Optimus Ride, the Boston-based company that made these things, is to get the Department of Transportation to approve them for actual city streets. "The end point is that autonomous should be everywhere," Optimus CEO Ryan Chin told We The Commuters. Are we close to that? The self-driving Optimus cars use a proprietary software that's at "Level 4 automation" — which means, according to some carmakers, that the person in the driver's seat can literally fall asleep at the wheel. I invite you to watch the video below and tell me if that sounds like a good idea. Some things we noticed: Both parking and three-point turns were an intricate two-person operation; the turn signals are manual; the cars don't have air conditioning yet; and despite Optimus calling this an "accessible form of mobility," the vehicles are not yet wheelchair accessible. Not that early hiccups aren't to be expected. But Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who studies autonomous vehicles, says it's crucial for companies and municipalities to be upfront about the technology's limitations. "So often the headline is 'Driverless Cars Now in X,' but the reality tends to be much more limited," he said. "If someone is in the vehicle supervising, it's not a driverless vehicle — it's an expensive bus, or a really expensive golf cart." The other issue is, moving autonomous cars into real traffic will require their onboard computers to read so much more sensory information. Either that, or we redesign our streets to make it simpler for self-driving cars to get around safely. For example, you could forget about jaywalking in the future — the autonomous car industry wants to put big gates on sidewalk corners that would periodically open to allow pedestrians to cross. Smith told us there's legitimate concern that "enthusiasm for automated driving is going to turn us back to the 1950s, where pedestrians are again shoved out of the way for cars." - [This story]( was reported by Jake Offenhartz Ask a Native New Yorker: Is it Wrong to Creepread Strangers' Texts on the Subway? Mark Lennihan/AP Just because there's a shiny screen two feet from your face that has a juicy text conversation playing out doesn't mean you should read it. "The crime of eavesreading someone's texts is relatively low on the list of transit etiquette crimes," [writes Gothamist co-founder and Ask a Native New Yorker columnist Jake Dobkin](. But still — don't do it. "No one is forcing your eyes to scan that screen — if you can't find something else to do, like read saved posts from Gothamist, a great local website, or listen to a highly rated podcast like [Radiolab]( brought to you by WNYC, you could simply close your eyes and mediate on why you're unable to spend even one minute without some kind of entertainment or distraction. All the great spiritual traditions agree that wisdom lies on the other side of boredom." Best of the Week From Gothamist and WNYC Adwait Patil/Gothamist Much of 4th Avenue in Brooklyn will have a two-way protected bike lane by the end of the year. The [bike lane between 15th Street and 57th Street]( which covers most of Sunset Park, is set to be completed this fall. Of the 18 city cyclists who've died in traffic this year, 13 have been in Brooklyn. The most recent fatality was on July 29th, in Sunset Park. A Manhattan man has died after being hit by a cyclist last week. Police are still searching for the suspect, who hit a 60-year-old man who was standing in a protected bike lane at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue. Since 2014, [less than one percent of the pedestrian deaths]( in the city have been caused by cyclists. 14th Street in Manhattan is getting its busway starting next week, after a group of Manhattan homeowners failed to convince a judge that the plan should be permanently halted. During the 18-month pilot program, [private through traffic will be restricted in both directions]( between 3rd and 9th Avenues, in order to speed up bus service. The man who was arrested and charged earlier this year for repeatedly pulling the emergency brakes on trains has been arrested again — for subway surfing. Isaiah Thompson, who's 23, turned himself in last Friday after he was seen riding on the outside of a northbound 5 train in Manhattan. An NYPD officer said back in May that [Thompson "has mentioned in the past that he enjoys this and enjoys the thrill."]( Despite recent turnover, the MTA's board is still primarily composed of affluent suburbanites. The average annual salary of an MTA board member is $292,000, according to the group Reinvent Albany, and the board's makeup also skews [whiter, older and more male than the transit-riding population](. What Else We're Reading New York City now has a permanent cap on vehicle registrations for services like Uber and Lyft. The new measure, which makes an already existing (but temporary) cap permanent, also includes an anti-cruising rule that will require drivers in Manhattan below 96th street to have a passenger at least 64 percent of the time. ([AM New York]( NJ Transit will be filming certain conductors and posting the footage on social media, in an attempt to "humanize" its staff. The videos are a way to put a face to the crews that have "felt the wrath of commuters" over delays and cancellations. ([Bloomberg]( An MTA worker jumped onto the tracks Wednesday and saved a woman from being hit by an oncoming train. Anthony Mannino, a signal maintainer, spotted a middle-aged woman who'd gone down onto the tracks at the Newkirk Plaza Q station, and "flagged the motorman to stop the train…about 3 feet away from hitting her." ([NY Post]( Here's a guide to having a safe and pleasant bike ride down Manhattan's West Side. The Times complied a thorough list of tips for biking the Hudson River Greenway, including where to rent a bike, where to get a snack, and what sights to visit along the way. ([The New York Times]( Want to See a Video of a Bat on a Plane? Keith Srakocic/AP [Here you go!]( According to the passenger who tweeted the video, a bat appeared about 30 minutes into a recent Spirit Airlines flight from Charlotte to Newark. "Eventually someone trapped it between a book and a cup and then locked it in one of the restrooms for the remainder of the trip," he said. Spirit told CNN that after the plane landed, animal control came on board and removed the bat. "No one was hurt in this incident," an airline spokesperson said, "including the bat." If you're still tempted to save 20 bucks by flying on bats' favorite discount airline, here's [our definitive guide to flying Spirit without breaking your spirit](. Best of the MTA's Lost & Found Clarissa Sosin for We the Commuters Though time remains a flat circle, these lost watches have passed their claim-by date. But if you recently lost something on a bus, subway or the Staten Island Railway, [stop by the MTA's Lost and Found]( at Penn Station. If you don't claim your property in time, you may get a second chance to buy it when it goes up for auction. Weekend Service Changes: Night of August 9th – Early Morning on August 12th This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. Saturday morning through Monday morning, train service between 96 St in Manhattan and 241 St in the Bronx will be replaced by trains and free shuttle buses. All train service will be replaced by and trains and free shuttle buses. Saturday from 5:45 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Hudson Yards-bound trains will skip 111, 103, 90, 82, 69, 52, 46, 40 and 33 Sts in Queens. Saturday morning through Monday morning, trains will run via the line in both directions between W 4 St in Manhattan and 21 St-Queensbridge in Queens. Jamaica Center-bound trains will skip 36, Steinway, 46 Sts, Northern Blvd, 65 St, Elmhurst, Grand Avs, Woodhaven Blvd, 63 Dr and 67 Av in Queens. train service between 95 St and 36 St in Brooklyn will be replaced by the train and free shuttle buses. Late night service will not run. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. Upcoming Meetings and Events Thursday, August 8th Transportation Alternatives' Families for Safe Streets Injury and Loss Support Community Picnic in Central Park, near Delacorte Theater — 6:00 p.m. [RSVP]( There are no public MTA meetings in the month of August. James Ramsay agrees: Bats or no bats, flying is bad. [It's train time everyone](. 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