Here we go – southbound Masonic at Anza. The left turn pocket lane that this robot might have been expecting is now gone, due to the endless construction projects in and around the 3000 feet of Masonic betwixt Fell and Geary, so Mr Roboto patiently waits, doing nothing. There’s a short left turn arrow at the beginning of the cycle at this unusual intersection, but somehow this self-driving car (or its human driver IDK) missed that chance to turn so it had to wait like 30 seconds blocking southbound Masonic’s “fast” lane:
Not that that’s agin the rules or anything, but blocked drivers honk-honked nevertheless.
Man, look at all the ppl riding around in these cars these days:
And actually, if I did miss the left arrow phase, which I wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t then wait so far back for my second chance at making a left as my light went amber – no no, I’d firmly get into the intersection to show my intentions of going left, for one thing.
I’d agree that It Aint Easy To Drive In Frisco and I’ll note that it seems that GM’s finishing school for robot cars appears to have a tough curriculum, what with all the Cruises I see cruising by / stopping at construction sites these days. But…
All the deets! From our SFMTA! (You know, they really like EXCLAMATION POINTS over there, wow!)
“The SFMTA is excited to introduce MuniMobile: the mobile ticketing app for smartphones coming soon!
MuniMobile enables customers to purchase and use transit fares across the Muni system: bus, rail, cable car and Paratransit.
Buy Muni tickets and passes in advance or on-the-go! With MuniMobile, your phone is your fare. There’s no longer need to carry exact change or rely on fare vending machines to ride.
The app will include the following features:
Ability to purchase, store and use single or multiple Muni fares on one mobile device
Allow passengers to pay for single-ride fares, cable car rides, and one-day, three-day and seven-day passports
Industry-leading security to protect personal information and payments
Multi-language support
Responsive eCommerce website for online ticket purchases
Beta testing update: we’re received over 1,600 applicants for the Beta phase of MuniMobile – wow!
Thank you for the tremendous support!
For those who did not sign up in time or were not selected to participate in this phase, don’t worry. The public launch is right around the corner next month.”
Looks as if we got our weekly Tuesday Noon Siren Test in early when some of San Francisco’s emergency sirens went off today at 3:45PM to … mark the end of Sunday Streets Chinatown?
“A siren from San Francisco’s Outdoor Public Warning System sounded at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, but a City Twitter account stated that the siren was activated accidentally.”
[UPDATE: This might be a gasoline-powered 230S, if that’s even possible. My bad. If anybody in town has an unusual euro-only Mercedes, it’s this guy. It might even have a manual transmission.]
Old Mercedes diesels* might be really slow, and they might emit more particulates than a fleet of new cars, and they might get converted to run on french fry grease, but…
The most cartoonish cloud of smoke coming from a car exhaust I’ve ever seen:
I’ve had my IP rebuilt, rolled in a new timing chain, and had the valve seals replaced all within the last 6 months. Injectors are also new and the valves were adjusted when the seals were replaced. Fuel filters and fuel lines are also new and all fluids are fresh. The only differences between mine and yours are that I have lower compression and I use perhaps a 1/2 quart of oil in 2,000 miles.
Despite this, I still have some smoke. There’s a hint of whitish smoke on cold idle at start up and a bit of black smoke when I get on the throttle or climb steep hills.
I have another set of injectors that I had rebuilt and will install them in due course. I’ll also rebuild the vacuum pump as a preventative measure. But after that, this game of “whack a mole” has to end.
There is one good thing to come from all this work, however. My engine sounds silky smooth. No knocking, no nailing, and no hicccups. The only underhood sounds you hear are the clickity click of fuel injectors popping and the combustion inside the engine. So long as this continues to be the case and my oil consumption doesn’t increase, I should consider everything else to be inconsequential.”
*Pray that this particular old Mercedes is a diesel. ‘Cause otherwise this rig prolly needs to get oil added on a daily basis…
