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Comments · 30

  1. or. You get rid of the complexity by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on GM Unveils Networked Electric Mini Cars

    the result is called PRT.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

  2. Re:Outperform? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on MIT Electric Car May Outperform Rival Gas Models

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/media/videos/
     

  3. Core changes... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Interesting · on The Tech Building Blocks of City 2.0

    1: Walkable cities; http://www.newurbanism.org/

    Everything I need should be no more than 10 minutes walk. Why should I have to get in a car/bus/train to get the stuff I want. East Kilbride, Cumbernauld ... disasters.

    2: PRT: http://www.atsltd.co.uk/media/

    Solves much of the traffic and logistic problems for those areas you can't walk to.

    3: Reform of the monetary system; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxdPIOUTd2k

    Lending money into existence is the cause of a lot of our existing problems.

    Don't hold your breath on any of it.

  4. Re:I've been patiently waiting for 35 years. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Flying Car Passes First Flight Test

    Of course, we're still years away from that sort of computing power

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

     

  5. Ultra uses only 40% of the energy of buses/trains. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Two Big Tests For Personal Rapid Transportation

    Per passenger mile.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/uploads/Documents/clean_air_paper.doc

    other interesting docs:

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/uploads/Documents

  6. Ultra uses only 40% of the energy of buses/trains. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Two Big Tests For Personal Rapid Transportation

    Per passenger mile.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/uploads/Documents/clean_air_paper.doc

    other interesting docs:

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/uploads/Documents

  7. Indeed. OTOH Here's a real transport revolution - by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Flying Car Ready To Take Off

    The first real PRT system is nearly ready to enter active service at Heathrow Airport.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/news/29/32/First-Flight-at-Heathrow/d,News%20Display/

     

  8. Re:uhhh hello... by Hucko · · Score: 1 · on Dilbert Goes Flash, Readers Revolt

    Yes, I'm going to have to accede the point to you. There are better ways than current hybrids and likely the solution is not another type of car.

    I would like to see a scaled up modification of this idea (not necessarily the implementation) ULTRA.

    If we could make owning a car a hobby like fly fishing and have these things at our beck and call it would be fantastic. For longer trips more traditional mass transport would be utilised in my imagination.

  9. Re:They need to earn foreign exchange... by Hucko · · Score: 1 · on Comparing the OLPC, Classmate and Eee

    Argh! http://www.atsltd.co.uk/ 'this' should have been the link. *Slow down cowboy, slow down*

  10. Driverless Cars. by Hucko · · Score: 1 · on GM Says Driverless Cars Will Be Ready By 2018

    Lets be real. The problem with automated transportation is we insist on owning our own car. If only we moved to this kind of thing. It would be a taxi service on steroids. Leave non fully automated vehicles to emergency services (would require some interconnect obviously) and hobbyists (regulated to their own "skateboard parks"). Yes, there would be call for them outside of cities and some situations, such as transportation of merchandise etc.

  11. No, self driving vehicles are already available. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Technology Innovation Areas For 2025

    About in 2025 nobody steering any vehicles anymore, I'm still waiting for my year 2000 flying car, good luck with your self steered 2025 car. Truth is, we are still VERY far from having those type of cars, and will probably never happen They're being implemented, now in the UK.
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/media/pictures/

    But for the moment we are quite far from letting the car drive itself, as it's really difficult to control all variables and preview all unexpected things that could go wrong. Which is why the other way to do it is to remove the variables. You then get the additional benefit of eliminating traffic congestion as well which actually makes it faster than a traditional car.
  12. Their "solution" is dumb... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on MIT Offers City Car for the Masses

    These scholars should devote their energy to the study and advancement of this system. Indeed. Their solution also doesn't solve the traffic congestion problem. Their system is on normal roads and therefore you have to drive it which means you can't do anything else for the 1.5 hours you're spending in the traffic each morning and evening. Christ, their solution doesn't even solve the problem they say it solves... "with kiosks at locations around a city or small community." Which means you still have to go to a kiosk to pick one up, which is just another name for a stop or station.

    "said Franco Vairani, a Ph.D. candidate at MIT's school of architecture".

    Well that explains it then.

    There is already a US system designed by a transport researcher (J. Edward Anderson) who's actually thought about the whole problem of transport, instead of just how to make a car a bit more environmentally friendly.

    http://www.taxi2000.com/

    And the UK system, Ultra is actually being implemented at Heathrow Airport:
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/
  13. Re:Trams are the wrong solution by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Battery Powered Tram Charges in 60 Seconds

    Trams wheels are 8 times more energy efficient than cars. If it takes one horse to pull a tram with steel wheels on rail, it would take 8 horses to pull the same tram with car tires Not true and irrelevant, much of the force goes into accelerating the vehicle, overcoming the rolling resistance is a small factor. The rolling resistance is only a small contributor to the overall efficiency of a vehicle. If that goes from 8% to 1% fine, but it's still only a 7% difference overall. Air resistance, engine/motor/drive efficiency and mass are much, much bigger factors.

    If rolling resistance was quite as big a problem as you make it out to be, tyres would overheat and burst into flames on a regular basis as significant proportion of the 80, 100kW+ an engine produces is lost as heat.

    Getting stuck without a train and tram system as we hit the final oil crisis simply because trams accelerate and decelerate a lot is not a valid argument. Yes, it is. You should investigate alternatives which are more efficient, more effective and cheaper than trams. If you spend $500 million putting in a tram system which only 5% of the local population can use effectively, that's $500 million which can't then be spent putting in a system which is twice as energy efficient and 30% of the population can use effectively.

    e.g.
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/prt/spec/

    Trams are the square peg in a round hole.
  14. Re:Ehm. no it isn't by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Another Step Towards the Driverless Car

    You run into the problem, though, of commuter patterns, as you have a large group of people moving from the 'burbs to the city in the morning, and then all moving back in the afternoon. You just need a cache of taxis at the burb/city end large enough to keep the service time down to within acceptable limits, say a 120 second wait. Bearing in mind that the taxis re-circulate once dropping off their passengers the cache doesn't have to be anything like as large as you might think.

    And it can be done today without requiring A.I. ...
    http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/prtquick. htm
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/
    http://www.personalrapidtransit.com/

    The performance of a PRT system, like roads, is determined by how quickly people get on/off the road/vehicles rather than the distance between the vehicles or their speed. i.e. the number of bays in a station. Again, it's the interfaces which matter, not the roads/guideways etc.
  15. Re:In saner parts of the world... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Google's Best Perk — Transport

    Are you predicting the free market will deliver a better mass transportation system than a government monopoly? Yes.
    e.g.
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

  16. So... What problem does it solve? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on VW Raises the Bar for Self-Driving Vehicles

    Even if it works. Well, it reduces driver boredom and allows them to do something else. That's it. It might in the long distant future also reduce accident rates. However it doesn't solve any of the other problems associated with car usage; expense, pollution and congestion.

    You're going to be spending just as much money on the vehicle, using just as much energy, producing just as much pollution and spending just as much time stuck in traffic.

    While automated driving is cool and interesting, it's not revolutionary, it doesn't solve any of the big problems caused by car usage we have today. It's worth noting that it's not possible for any of the existing public transport technologies to solve the problems caused by car usage either.

    http://www.vectusprt.com/
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/
    http://www.skywebexpress.com/
    http://www.mist-er.com/index-en.htm

  17. And a good thing too. Who cares about driving? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on High-tech Cars Replacing Driver Skill?

    I just want to get from A->B quickly and safely... In fact a better solution than bolting these kludges on to existing technologies would be to take the next step entirely...

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

  18. Re:3 passenger limit is bone-headed by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Bob Metcalfe on Open Source, IPv6, IETF

    The equivalent UK system carries 4, has space for a wheelchair/bicycle/stroller.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

    Any bigger though and the vehicle starts to get heavier to cope. Heavier vehicle means heavier infrastructure... more cost. It can become unviable quite easily as the cost/mile goes up.

  19. Re:Um, and so they should. The automobile is obsol by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Bob Metcalfe on Open Source, IPv6, IETF

    "Presumably PRT will be no cheaper."

    It should be, it doesn't require the large amount of land use traditional corridor systems do. Largely because the vehicles weigh 400kg rather than 40,000kg. The infrastructure can be correspondingly small and light.

    The UK Ultra system has built and costed actual test infrastructure at around $5 million/km ($8million/mile), which means you can cover 10 times as much area with 10 times as many potential passengers or just do an equivalent system for a fraction of the cost.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/ultra_pdfs/sae_paper_lowso n.doc

    The US Taxi2000 people reckon they can improve further on the costs with their system.

    "Thus the political will to build and fund a $XX billion dollar PRT system isn't likely to exist."

    You're mostly right. There isn't a lot of political will around. However, rail (heavy and light), buses and all other conventional forms of group based public transit have demonstrated that they can't have a significant effect on road use and generally require huge subsidies to operate at all.

    People are starting to look around for something that could take significant amounts of ridership. PRT can potentially turn a profit where group transit systems can't. It could therefore be run privately and profit is a great alternative to political will.

  20. Re:Um, and so they should. The automobile is obsol by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Bob Metcalfe on Open Source, IPv6, IETF

    "let us know when you find the political will to fund it and build it"

    There's a US system, software and hardware built and looking for a test track. There's an independant UK system with hardware and software built and tested looking for a pilot.

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

    "I'm sure I'll still be driving a car then."

    Statistically, you're far more likely to be sitting stationary in traffic when it happens.

  21. That's cos we still put drivers in trains. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Cars that Can't Crash?

    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/
    http://www.skywebexpress.com/

    http://faculty.washington.edu/~jbs/itrans/prtquick .htm

    etc.

  22. And, for real cars which can't crash.... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1 · on Cars that Can't Crash?

    Would mean that you don't have to drive ever again:

    http://www.skywebexpress.com/
    http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

    It's called Personal Rapid Transit.

  23. Re:Bristol by phug · · Score: 1 · on Mass Transit Meets The Incredibles
    From the article:

    Taxi 2000, in fact, is in an international race of sorts with British company ULTra, based in Bristol, which boasts a PRT system similar to SkyWeb Express

  24. Re:Bristol by mikerich · · Score: 1 · on Mass Transit Meets The Incredibles
    Several (at least 5) years ago there was talk of a similar system to serve Bristol, a largish city in the UK.

    There is still ULTra at Cardiff which has gone rather quiet of late. At the risk of jinxing another British lead in technology, they've actually gone as far as building hardware and a test track.

    Somewhere like here in Milton Keynes would benefit from this sort of technology - sprawling estates, congested centre, lousy bus service and plenty of room along the roads to build the tracks. And hey, we're still 'the city of the future' (which is a depressing view of the future when you think about it).

    Best wishes,
    Mike.

  25. Sounds like the ULTra by Stuart+Ward · · Score: 1 · on Mass Transit Meets The Incredibles

    There is a very simular system being trialed in Cardiff. http://www.atsltd.co.uk/ Some interesting analysis on waiting times and congestion on the site. More like a personal taxi without the back chat from the driver.

  26. Cooler stuff happening on this side of the pond by kinnell · · Score: 3, Informative · on Washington State Legalizes NEVs on Public Roads

    Have a look at the Ultra project for a more creative solution to electric mass transport :-)

  27. Taxi 2000 by jeti · · Score: 1 · on Creating Car Free Cities

    There exist quite a number of PRT systems that could give us car free cities.

    I think Taxi 2000 has the most mature concepts.
    The Ultra concept is also interesting, mostly because it
    can make some use of existing streets. They also have a neat test track.

  28. Someone's cooking the numbers by drew_kime · · Score: 2 · on ULTra Robo-Taxi

    From the What is ULTra page:

    maximum speed 25mph (40kph)

    But from the Fact File:

    ULTra average speed is about 40 kph

    So which is it, maximum speed or average?

  29. Someone's cooking the numbers by drew_kime · · Score: 2 · on ULTra Robo-Taxi

    From the What is ULTra page:

    maximum speed 25mph (40kph)

    But from the Fact File:

    ULTra average speed is about 40 kph

    So which is it, maximum speed or average?

  30. ULTra Web Site by shut_up_man · · Score: 5, Informative · on New Thoughts in Public Transportation

    Urban Light Transport has more information on their web site, including some much higher-res images, FAQs and other info.

    The most interesting (and not really mentioned) factor is that the automatic taxis don't travel on predetermined routes, they navigate their small network of paths to get to your destination.