Do I need a special permit to operate self-driving mainland-roaming vehicles?

[lucagrabacr]

I've seen a lot of them over the years and know that they are privately owned, kinda wondering if one requires a special permit of some sort to operate them. Or can I just make one and let them roam the mainland as long as they don't intrude into people's parcels? I kinda want to make mainland-roaming buses  

[Love Zhaoying]

Generally, most vehicles (except trams and trolleys) on public land for “use by anyone” are owned by LL. Private vehicles are usually stored on individual’s land parcels, and only driven into “public” roads when the owner wants to use them. Most “private vehicles” are not self-driving unless they are part of some sim’s tour or Experience, etc.

 If you want to create a public vehicle that anyone can use, but not take/keep/buy, then you may need special permission.

  I am sure you will get other answers from more people.

[lucagrabacr]

4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Generally, most vehicles (except trams and trolleys) on public land for “use by anyone” are owned by LL. Private vehicles are usually stored on individual’s land parcels, and only driven into “public” roads when the owner wants to use them. Most “private vehicles” are not self-driving unless they are part of some sim’s tour or Experience, etc.

 If you want to create a public vehicle that anyone can use, but not take/keep/buy, then you may need special permission.

  I am sure you will get other answers from more people.

Thanks Love! And yeah, I was referring to YavaPods which as far as I know is privately owned, they operate multiple self-driving mainland-roaming vehicles that anyone can hitch a ride on  

[Love Zhaoying]

Interesting. You know more about it than I do! My usual assumption is that unattended vehicles NOT owned by LL on public land would be returned to owners. So, they must have some special arrangement or method of operation.

[Phil Deakins]

You don't need a permit (unless LL made a rule about it in recent times).

In the not too distant past there were a load of them, all operated by one person. They came in for a heck of a lot of flack, and eventually they disappeared. I don't know that they "roamed" though. I think they were probably on fixed routes, but I don't know.

If you operate just one vehicle, you are very unlikely to get flack, but if you start to build up a fleet of them, you'll gradually become very unpopular.

[lucagrabacr]

5 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

You don't need a permit (unless LL made a rule about it in recent times).

In the not too distant past there were a load of them, all operated by one person. They came in for a heck of a lot of flack, and eventually they disappeared. I don't know that they "roamed" though. I think they were probably on fixed routes, but I don't know.

If you operate just one vehicle, you are very unlikely to get flack, but if you start to build up a fleet of them, you'll gradually become very unpopular.

I think the YavaPods are on fixed route too, my definition on "roaming" was a bit loose  and I see. I will try to make the buses then! (maybe 1 or 2)

Edited February 23, 2018 by lucagrabacr

[Alwin Alcott]

5 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

You don't need a permit (unless LL made a rule about it in recent times).

In the not too distant past there were a load of them, all operated by one person. They came in for a heck of a lot of flack, and eventually they disappeared. I don't know that they "roamed" though. I think they were probably on fixed routes, but I don't know.

If you operate just one vehicle, you are very unlikely to get flack, but if you start to build up a fleet of them, you'll gradually become very unpopular.

i'm not completely sure, but as far i heared, most of that person's vehicles were removed by LL.

A "few" are back now, following the official roads

[Phil Deakins]

2 minutes ago, lucagrabacr said:

I think the YavaPods are on fixed route too, my definition on "roaming" was a bit loose  and I see. I will try to make the buses then! (maybe 1 or 2)

You'll be fine with 1 or 2

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i'm not completely sure, but as far i heared, most of that person's vehicles were removed by LL.

A "few" are back now, following the official roads

Maybe LL removed all the ones that were stuck on people's property - that might have been most of them lol.

She's brought some back?

[Alwin Alcott]

1 minute ago, Phil Deakins said:

 

She's brought some back?

till two weeks ago i had a parcel near a road, and did see vehicles pass by... didn't check the owner

[Phil Deakins]

Understood.

[Love Zhaoying]

Don’t these vehicles get in the way of other’s who want to drive?

[lucagrabacr]

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Don’t these vehicles get in the way of other’s who want to drive?

I think it's possible to make them phantom as long as the root prim has a shape (it can be very small and put up high), but I'm not sure if that works for vehicles

[Phil Deakins]

They do (did) get in the way. Some of them were quite large, which was very bad. I'm not all that sure that phantom would work all that well, because the vehicle coming the other way wouldn't know and would be trying to get out its way. If it's small, and moving only on one side of the road it wouldn't be bad, but the other person's vehicles were all over the road, and some were pretty big.

[Chic Aeon]

The Linden vehicles on the roads (the big silver bridge for one) seem to be phantom as I had them run over me a few times taking photos :D. It SEEMS like if you could program it to work on a certain route and it STAYED on that route (test test test) it would be fine. That is pretty much what the Linden cars, pods, boats seem to do.      The public road seems to be pretty good in front of my place which has a rez zone at the end adjoining my property so might be a good place to test.  

[MoiraKathleen]

3 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

They do (did) get in the way. Some of them were quite large, which was very bad. I'm not all that sure that phantom would work all that well, because the vehicle coming the other way wouldn't know and would be trying to get out its way. If it's small, and moving only on one side of the road it wouldn't be bad, but the other person's vehicles were all over the road, and some were pretty big.

It took me awhile to figure out those were unattended automatic driving vehicles. 

@lucagrabacr if I remember correctly, a lot of the complaints for these many vehicles this one person operated were that they didn't always travel smoothly - they kind of jerked around on the road like a very drunken driver (even worse than my driving here), they were very ugly, they would get 'stuck' a lot either on abandoned land or crash on people's parcels...  There were people that offered suggestions to her for improving the vehicle scripting, which she rejected.  I believe that she had several parcels form which the vehicles would launch (so they were rezzed on private land belonging to her, before heading out onto the LL road).  

[Tari Landar]

I highly recommend doing a google search for Second Life vehicles causing a nuisance(yes, those words exactly). You will find everything you need to know, the history behind them, and why, frankly, they were a massive problem for a lot of people (and eventually killed off by LL, essentially, despite discussion to the contrary) right in the very first result. You can delve further from there, lol.  It was a pretty heated topic, and may still remain so for some folks  

That's not me saying "don't do it", but me saying "understand it first, and be smart about it" lol. (not that I think you wouldn't, of course) 

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Generally, most vehicles (except trams and trolleys) on public land for “use by anyone” are owned by LL.

Not at all. I think LL has some public transport facilities at Bay City but apart from that it's all private.

The Yava Pods are owned and operated by Yavanna Llanfair and they run regular routes on all Linden roads except one.

The "drunken vehicles" were run by AnnMarie O'Toole. She vanished about two years or so ago. As far as I know, nobody knows exactly what happened to her. Whether she was banned by Linden Lab is impossible to say since LL would never comment on that. AnnMarie was close to 80 years old when she disappeared so there may well have been RL reasons.

 

2 hours ago, moirakathleen said:

a lot of the complaints for these many vehicles this one person operated were that they didn't always travel smoothly - they kind of jerked around on the road like a very drunken driver (even worse than my driving here)

That was AnnMarie's. She once told me she preferred it that way because it looked more realistic. She lived in New Yrok so it does actually make sense.

 

2 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

It SEEMS like if you could program it to work on a certain route and it STAYED on that route (test test test) it would be fine.

AnnMarie and Yavanna are both among the most brilliant scripters we've ever had in SL and if they are struggling, you can safely assume it's difficult. Yavanna rewrites the script for the pods every week. AnnMarie's cars was continuously checking and updating the route while they went along which is why they had trouble staying on the road.

 

2 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

The Linden vehicles on the roads (the big silver bridge for one) seem to be phantom as I had them run over me a few times taking photos

Well, Ebbe Linden was hit by a Yava pod and sent flying into the sea only a few hours ago. That one didn't seem very phantom.

 

Edited February 24, 2018 by ChinRey

[Chic Aeon]

42 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

 

Well, Ebbe Linden was hit by a Yava pod and sent flying into the sea only a few hours ago. That one didn't seem very phantom.

 

Well maybe the rules changed OR it was purposeful. Who knows?

 

[ChinRey]

11 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Well maybe the rules changed OR it was purposeful. Who knows?

It may actually have been the avatar in the pod that wasn't phantom. I only know about it because the person in the pod told about it in the Pod Rider group.

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, ChinRey said:

AnnMarie and Yavanna are both among the most brilliant scripters we've ever had in SL and if they are struggling, you can safely assume it's difficult. Yavanna rewrites the script for the pods every week. AnnMarie's cars was continuously checking and updating the route while they went along which is why they had trouble staying on the road.

 

Well I don't know the OP or the script people you mentioned and I am not doubting that it is difficult, but IMHO just because something is difficult, doesn't mean it is impossible -- worth the effort of trying and learning from the process.

 

[BiroIsHere]

Bro sometimes i see cops driving under my house on mainland roads so dont be so sure ;] 

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, ChinRey said:

Not at all. I think LL has some public transport facilities at Bay City but apart from that it's all private.

The Yava Pods are owned and operated by Yavanna Llanfair and they run regular routes on all Linden roads except one.

The "drunken vehicles" were run by AnnMarie O'Toole. She vanished about two years or so ago. As far as I know, nobody knows exactly what happened to her. Whether she was banned by Linden Lab is impossible to say since LL would never comment on that. AnnMarie was close to 80 years old when she disappeared so there may well have been RL reasons.

 

That was AnnMarie's. She once told me she preferred it that way because it looked more realistic. She lived in New Yrok so it does actually make sense.

 

AnnMarie and Yavanna are both among the most brilliant scripters we've ever had in SL and if they are struggling, you can safely assume it's difficult. Yavanna rewrites the script for the pods every week. AnnMarie's cars was continuously checking and updating the route while they went along which is why they had trouble staying on the road.

 

Well, Ebbe Linden was hit by a Yava pod and sent flying into the sea only a few hours ago. That one didn't seem very phantom.

 

Got it. Guess my experience with seeing public vehicles was limited to the Luna trolley!

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, ChinRey said:

Well, Ebbe Linden was hit by a Yava pod and sent flying into the sea only a few hours ago. That one didn't seem very phantom.

Maybe scripted to aim for Lindens?

[Love Zhaoying]

How come Animats hasn’t come to ask how these pods do at sim crossings? I’ll ask! And?