MAGNETIC GLIDING PODS TRANSIT OF THE FUTURE
Forget planes, trains and automobiles, a totally new kind of transportation is in the works at a NASA lab in the South Bay. Gliding pods could someday pick you up where you live and drop you off at work.
SkyTran is a Personal Rapid Transit system under development by Unimodal Inc. Lightweight two-passenger vehicles suspended from elevated passive magnetic levitation tracks are expected to achieve the equivalent of over 200 miles per gallon fuel economy at 100 miles per hour or faster.
A prototype of the SkyTran vehicle and a section of track have been constructed. Inductrack, the proposed magnetic levitation system for SkyTran, has been tested by General Atomics with a full-scale model.
UniModal Inc. is now collaborating with NASA to test and develop SkyTran. The first public experiment will be built in Tel Aviv, with planned completion in mid 2014.
Gliding at up to 150 miles an hour, suspended from poles, SkyTran is the first in a category called personal rapid transit. The computer-controlled pods pull off the track and into a station where riders hop in, swipe a card and select a stop — just like pressing a button on an elevator.
It combines the flexibility of a car with the experience of riding a train.
For more details visit: http://www.skytran.us/