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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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Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: He was giving it last rites.
(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.