I think you'd be paying electronically in advance, which is a good thing. No fumbling for cash or dealing with tips.

What? The fact no one is sure what sparked the fire doesn't invalidate his point that hydrogen can explode/burn.

Initially I thought the same thing, but it really is WW1 and not WW2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-boat_Campaign_(World_War_I)

While your post is probably somewhat tongue in cheek, the original article states "...will study the collected results and use them to determine future page ranking systems." It does not suggest they are automatically lowering page rankings based on collected results. Also, I would guess Google could figure out via IP(s) if a particular person or group is trying to game the system.

But can it survive intentional sabotage? Placing magnets on the surface of the pavement would not be hard to do.

The magnets are placed under the pavement in the center of the lane. That may be enough to make their signal distinct from any magnets dropped by a saboteur. Additionally the magnets might be made in a specific way such that the pickup sensors look for that specific type. Also the bus could have a GPS sensor on board to prevent any major deviation from the route.

I'm a little more interested in the ability to change lanes or deal with other uncertainties. It seems these buses must follow an exact route based on their magnets. What happens if a car breaks down or stalls in their magnetic lane? A human operator would just go around, but it would seem these robot buses would be stuck in this scenario.