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I would like to see little leased pod cars which trundle around at the local speed within a certain range, and have the ability to go to a Bus Lane (I presume t

I would like to see little leased pod cars which trundle around at the local speed within a certain range, and have the ability to go to a Bus Lane (I presume the bus is dead), and join a Magnetic Track of sort where they go 200 miles an hour. That would be pretty amazing. Why they are sticking shit all over 2 ton vehicles? If they are solving Fuel and Emissions and Driver, can't they just take the final step of a revolution? I am pretty sure governments would be throwing notes at it.

nickparker 9y ago
Hyperloop One is working on this. Small self driving cubicles drive around the city and pop into larger pods that go 700 mph in the Hyperloop between cities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU
- nmeofthestate 9y ago
  Seems a bit gimmicky (it's the hyperloop after all). If the self-driving car is the vehicular equivalent of a hot desk, why not just exit it and walk into the hyperloop pod, instead of transporting tonnes of weight of interchangeable self-driving car? Then just hop into a different one that's waiting at the other end.
  - nickparker 9y ago
    Disclaimer: I'm starting a job at Hyperloop soon, but haven't actually been told anything about the hardware yet (I'm joining as a software dev), so this is all not-NDA-violating speculation: I believe the cars are also pressure vessels and life support systems. My student team looked into this side of the problem last year, and making the entire ~40 ft long Hyperloop pod a pressure vessel is really tricky. The two competing forces are the obvious premium on extra mass, and the need for a large opening to load cargo into the pods. Dealing with all the "human compatibility" problems at the scale of the cars lets you use much smaller pressure vessels (lighter), and makes loading unpressurized cargo drop dead easy. The other big benefit is that loading the Hyperloop pods is really difficult. You'd ideally like to be launching a pod into the tube every 30 seconds or less, to get the best return on your infrastructure investment. Achieving that by walking people right up to the 40 ft vehicles and having them all file in like a commercial flight is just about impossible. With mobile sub-pods you can have a far smaller station, and just load sub-pods as they arrive into the next departing pod.
    - nmeofthestate 9y ago
      Thanks for the inside info - interesting.
      - nickparker 9y ago
        Speculation - not inside info. Again, I haven't been told anything about this aspect of the system yet.
- Fifer82 9y ago
  I didn't know about that (the pods bit!), thanks for the link.
ilaksh 9y ago
I think the size of vehicles is related to safety features and mass being safer in collisions in addition to the expectation for capacity. But I agree the it is ludicrous to continue with these massive vehicles if we can find a way to move forward. I think the other massive vehicles present a safety hazard to small vehicles so you may need to separate them physically.

nickparker 9y ago

Hyperloop One is working on this. Small self driving cubicles drive around the city and pop into larger pods that go 700 mph in the Hyperloop between cities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU

nmeofthestate 9y ago
Seems a bit gimmicky (it's the hyperloop after all). If the self-driving car is the vehicular equivalent of a hot desk, why not just exit it and walk into the hyperloop pod, instead of transporting tonnes of weight of interchangeable self-driving car? Then just hop into a different one that's waiting at the other end.
- nickparker 9y ago
  Disclaimer: I'm starting a job at Hyperloop soon, but haven't actually been told anything about the hardware yet (I'm joining as a software dev), so this is all not-NDA-violating speculation: I believe the cars are also pressure vessels and life support systems. My student team looked into this side of the problem last year, and making the entire ~40 ft long Hyperloop pod a pressure vessel is really tricky. The two competing forces are the obvious premium on extra mass, and the need for a large opening to load cargo into the pods. Dealing with all the "human compatibility" problems at the scale of the cars lets you use much smaller pressure vessels (lighter), and makes loading unpressurized cargo drop dead easy. The other big benefit is that loading the Hyperloop pods is really difficult. You'd ideally like to be launching a pod into the tube every 30 seconds or less, to get the best return on your infrastructure investment. Achieving that by walking people right up to the 40 ft vehicles and having them all file in like a commercial flight is just about impossible. With mobile sub-pods you can have a far smaller station, and just load sub-pods as they arrive into the next departing pod.
  - nmeofthestate 9y ago
    Thanks for the inside info - interesting.
    - nickparker 9y ago
      Speculation - not inside info. Again, I haven't been told anything about this aspect of the system yet.
Fifer82 9y ago
I didn't know about that (the pods bit!), thanks for the link.

ilaksh 9y ago

I think the size of vehicles is related to safety features and mass being safer in collisions in addition to the expectation for capacity. But I agree the it is ludicrous to continue with these massive vehicles if we can find a way to move forward. I think the other massive vehicles present a safety hazard to small vehicles so you may need to separate them physically.