JPods
JPods are a method of personal transportation that use distributed collaborative computer networks to route transit in a manner similar to the data trafficking of the Internet. Developed by JPods, Inc. as a form of personal rapid transit, ultra-light pods have an on-board computer that controls their motion.
Personal rapid transit was defined in Congressional Office of Technology Assessment Study PB-244854[1] as the solution for urban transport in response to the 1973 Oil Embargo. Morgantown, West Virginia installed a PRT system that has delivered 110 million oil-free, injury-free passenger miles, but where huge budget overruns crippled interest in PRT for several decades.
Transport Characteristics
In the demonstration JPod,[2] people get in, touch a Home, Mall, School or Work on a touch screen computer and the vehicle navigates to that address. In production models people and/or cargo will set destination and travel non-stop from origin to destination.
Installations
JPods has signed letters-of-intent (see image of letter to the right) to build networks in 2014 with the cities of Secaucus (5-mile (8.0 km) network, US-NJ), Anshan (19-mile (30 km), China), and Linyi (120-mile (200 km), China). On June 25, 2014 the Town of Secaucus passed a Performance Standards Ordinance making it a law to grant rights of way access based on exceeding 120 passenger-miles per gallon.[3]
System details
- vehicles weigh approximately 500 pounds (230 kg)[4] with a gross carrying capacity of 1,700 pounds (770 kg)
- vehicles travel suspended below an overhead guideway that encases the bogies
- bogies are the mechanisms that propel vehicles and from which the vehicle chassis is suspended. Bogies are composed of generally of motors, controllers, wheels, gearboxes, sensors, and switches.
- switch control is managed by the vehicle and/or by the network
- solar powered[5]
- travel between 30 and 40 miles per hour (48 and 64 km/h)[6]
The computer network is managed in three tiers:
- devices such as pods, switches, structures
- negotiators collaborate with devices and load managers to set routes
- load managers log time based demand to create a terrain map that allow appropriate routes to be identified and scheduled
References
- ↑ "PB-244854" (PDF). Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Retrieved 1975-06-01. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - ↑ "Fox 9 News". Fox 9 News. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
- ↑ "Ordinance 2014-23, Performance Standards". Town of Secaucus, NJ. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
- ↑ "Energy Neutral Transportation". Solarevolution.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- ↑ "Alternative Energy eMagazine - | AltEnergyMag". Earthtoys.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- ↑ "JPod Transportation Concept". Alternative-energy-news.info. 2007-01-04. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Knetwork- Personal Rapid Transit". Kinetic.seattle.wa.us. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Alternative Energy eMagazine - | AltEnergyMag". Earthtoys.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "JPods - Atrawiki". Advancedtransit.net. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Solar Living Institute - Solar Living Institute". Solarliving.org. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Personal Rapid Transit, Personal Automated Transit, PRT, PAT, PodCar, costs, history, illustrations, contact information, related websites, advocacy groups,deployment experiences, Masdar, 2getthere". Faculty.washington.edu. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "The future of big city mass transit may be a lot of driverless pods. | abc7news.com". Abclocal.go.com. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Pods that you summon whenever you need them on Smart Green Travel with Jerry Hart". Hart of Green. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "Corps of Engineers Talking Points" (PDF). JPods.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "TEDxMidAtlantic 2010 - Bill James - 11/5/10". YouTube. 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
- "TEDxAtlanta › Videos › Bill James". Tedxatlanta.com. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2014-02-16.