Abu Dhabi is equipping its new sci-fi style planned city with sci-fi style podcars. The personal rapid transit pods will take up to four passengers to their location via a grid of aerial tracks. If you want to go somewhere off the grid, you’ll have to take the hovercar. / space buggy.
At each station or inside the car, a machine will ask you where you want to go, with your usual route being one option. The podcar will then take you wherever it wants to go. / wherever it thinks you should be going.
And, to get to the podcar station, you just swipe your identity-card, give your luggage to the PorterDroid, and fly there with your jetpack.
You’ll be able to identify your podcar by its individual number. Though I’d take the next one if you get HAL-9000.
The podcars will be zooming around the futuristic, carbon-neutral Masdar City in the United Arab Emirites, which is currently being constructed. Because if there’s one place on the globe that can’t afford any more warming, it’s Abu Dhabi.
They hope to equip these “podcars” with some sort of portable device that can play MP3s and video files, once they come up with an appropriate name.
Not only are the podcars unable to carry many people, but they’re extremely slow, infrequent, and go to a really limited range of places. But boy are they futuristic!
They’re great! Unless you want to go somewhere that isn’t the podcar showroom, the podcar manufacturing plant, or the actual pod itself.
But haven’t we been promised podcars before? I won’t believe it till I’m sitting in one, terrified for my life.
The best part is, if one podcar breaks down, only part of the city grinds to a halt.
They’ve dubbed them podcars. Because compared to normal cars they’re clearly much more… poddy.
Podcars are going to be a central part of Masdar City, the futuristic zero-emissions city planned for Abu Dhabi. Which is lucky, as Masdar City is banning all forms of transport that don’t begin with the word “pod”.
But I’m sceptical. It sounds like just another dream that’ll go the way of the electric duck.
It’s just like a regular car, except you have to share it with strangers, you can only go where the rails take you – oh, and it doesn’t actually exist.
Being suspended above the city and automated, they virtually eliminate the possibility of traffic accidents. Unless one falls on you.
Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a personal rapid transit system! Oh. Is that all.
The personal rapid transit system promises commuters a life without traffic jams, accidents and free will.
It’s perfect for a planned city like Masdar City. Especially if they want to plan where to take everyone. / want to plan exactly where everyone goes.
The best thing about these automated transport systems is that they can never malfunction, get a bug, or breakdown. You know, like computers.
Better hope the system isn’t built by Connex, the company in charge of Melbourne’s trains. I hear that in Abu Dhabi the temperature gets above 35 quite regularly.
Sure, when you live in Abu Dhabi you get to ride around in a podcar, but you’re still stuck in Abu Dhabi.
Unfortunately, they don’t have toilets. So you can’t pee in a pod. Car.
Of course being private, and yet not user-owned, people can get up to some unsavoury activities. Just because they’re called pods doesn’t mean you should pee in them.
Ironically, Masdar City will be entirely free of Mazdas.
Unfortunately, at peak hour, they have to cram 400 irate sweaty passengers into something the size of a cupboard.
They were going to call them ships of the desert, but camels threatened to sue.
They were going to call them ships of the desert, but camels threatened to sue. Plus, they weren’t at all like ships.
It certainly is a better form of transportation than the proposed hover-camels. Also less cruel.
They’re using “I Am the Walrus” as their theme tune. Although not the whole song – just the bit at the end that goes “oompa loompa, Abu Dhabi Pod Car”.
