The BBC reports on a pilot project called SkyTran, a kind of two person monorail.
Two-person vehicles will be suspended from elevated magnetic tracks, as an alternative transport method to congested roads, the firm promised.
The system should be up and running by the end of 2015. The firm hopes the test track will prove that the technology works and lead to a commercial version of the network.
The plan is to allow passengers to order a vehicle on their smartphone to meet them at a specific station and then head directly to their destination.
While the technology looks interesting, I'm not sure about the long term commercial prospects of this project.
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'Hover Car' System to Be Implemented in Tel Aviv
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(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday June 26 2014, @12:24AM
Main Street's still all cracked and broken!
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Thursday June 26 2014, @02:54AM
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by freetown on Thursday June 26 2014, @12:31AM
Just want to point out that by 'hover' they mean 'suspended from magnetic tracks'. Anybody see a problem with that? Like what happens when the power cuts while the 'hover car' is moving at 50km/h?
It should be called a death trap monorail.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 26 2014, @12:55AM
I would assume that in a case of power loss it would slow down and eventually come to a halt and be mechanically suspended from the rail. Just because it's magnetically suspended during operation doesn't mean that there can't be failsafes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 26 2014, @04:33AM
Come on, get with the program. Practicing civil engineers are thick morons, aging computer technicians on discussion sites are wise.
Also, the government has literally been bought out by the 1% and monsanto uses GMOs to control the fluoride in your teeth.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 26 2014, @01:07AM
Suspended need not mean held up by magnetic force, merely that the shoe would be levitated above the rail by an electro magnet. A power failure simply means the shoe contacts the track, probably with rollers built to purpose.
So its a maglev [wikipedia.org].
Magnetic levitation is used to eliminate rolling resistance, but imposes a huge power requirement.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Wierd0n3 on Thursday June 26 2014, @01:14AM
this is a solved problem. maglev has a speed record of 300+mph and a safety record spanning from the 70's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 26 2014, @03:58AM
As far as I know, none are hanging from the motor unit which is hanging from a rail.
They all seem to be built on a single central rail or a trench.
This would require dramatically less infrastructure and land use.
So its a different problem altogether. Probably not comparable to prior projects.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by zizban on Thursday June 26 2014, @01:39AM
Yes, your original submission was really negative and the cars wouldn't fall if they pulled the plug. It took a lot of editing to make it what it was. That said, it was a good submission, you just made me earn the big bucks they pay me to edit.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday June 26 2014, @08:27AM
Hang on, am I to believe an editor of a slashcode site not only read the submission, and followed the links, but actually made changes to the submission?!
Freaky parallel world
(Score: 1) by zizban on Thursday June 26 2014, @03:09PM
I know! Amazing!
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday June 26 2014, @03:07PM
Go read the documentation about the SkyTran system on their website. All these things have been thought of and planned for, and multiple fail-safes are designed in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 26 2014, @12:38AM
Arlo would like you to know he used the WRONG FINGER!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday June 26 2014, @01:46AM
One can do as the germans did.. forget a tool on the rail and have it derail such that passengers are dropped to the ground. Then you will wish that you were on the ground or in a tunnel not falling 6 meters and wrecking your now uninsurable spine.
Murphy doesn't let anyone escape.
(Score: 1) by dak664 on Thursday June 26 2014, @02:00PM
PV roofed monorails are possibly less resource intensive than highway-on-the ground infrastructure. Although they would have much lower capacity I suspect future life will involve a lot less pointless traveling from place to place.
There are also the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shweeb [wikipedia.org] recumbent bicycle systems, however the overall energy efficiency of a PV monorail is probably higher since food production transport and digestion along with muscle inefficiency could easily consume more primary energy than direct PV conversion.