Driverless Public tranport Pods

[OwlMan]

RDM Group will create electric powered pods designed to carry up to two passengers along pavements.....

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/ne...ing/future-arrives-coventry-firm-wins-7114770
RDM Group will create electric powered pods designed to carry up to two passengers along pavements
Futuristic self-driving vehicles will be travelling through UK streets next year – thanks to a Coventry-based firm.
RDM Group, which employs 39 people at its Bilton Industrial Estate facility, has been announced as the manufacturing partner for the new Low Carbon Urban Transport Zone Pathfinder project.
The company will create electric powered pods designed to carry up to two passengers along pavements, reaching top speeds of 7mph.
RDM Group was chosen by project managers Transport Systems Catapult after beating five firms to the contract thanks to its track record for advanced vehicle design, niche builds and software development.
It will now work with Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group to create the three test vehicles.
“We are delighted to have won this prestigious project following a very in-depth tendering process,” said David Keene, CEO at RDM Group.
“The LUTZ Pathfinder project represents an opportunity for us to showcase our technical abilities in advanced vehicle design, development and build to both a UK and global audience.
“We have invested heavily in attracting the right people with skills in advanced electronics, software development, mobile apps and vehicle engineering and all of these attributes will be brought into play to make sure this ambitious vision becomes reality.”
RDM will manufacture the pods at its new £400,000 advanced engineering centre in Coventry and is planning to complete the first vehicle by the end of this year. This will allow the Oxford University robotics experts to install their technology and begin test-track trials in early 2015.
Once these are completed, the pods will be ready for testing in public on the pavements of Milton Keynes, transporting passengers around the town’s key places of interest.
The vehicles will continue to be manned by trained operators throughout the duration of the assessment programme. Neil Fulton, programme director at Transport Systems Catapult, said: “The LUTZ Pathfinder project will redefine how people think of ‘driving’, and therefore fits in perfectly with our mission to promote UK business growth in the field of intelligent mobility.
“The appointment of RDM Group as the manufacturers of the pods is obviously a major milestone for the project and I am very happy to welcome the company on board.”

 

[34D]

Bring it on. This will mean us bosses don't have to go out driving all day when people ring in sick

 

[Darandio]

Will it be programmed to give way to a mobility scooter on the pavement? Because I can guarantee that the person riding the scooter won't!

 

[ECML180]

Nah just give it stronger bumpers!

 

[telstarbox]

This is part of the Transport Systems Catapult programme.

 

[deltic]

who is this aimed at - 7mph is not exactly speedy

 

[IanD]

who is this aimed at - 7mph is not exactly speedy

Me - it would half the time it takes me to walk from one Wetherspoons to another in Milton Keynes. (Well, it did say it was linking places of interest.)

 

[edwin_m]

If this works it solves one of the problems faced by Personal Rapid Transit - the need for expensive and obtrusive segregated guideways to all places the PRT network wants to serve (and if it is a proper PRT network it shoud serve a neighbourhood at least as well as the road network). This is one reason why PRT has been around as an idea for nearly half a century but only has a handful of working applications.

There are still potential useability and security issues - for example:

- How do people choose their destinations when not everyone is good with a map or knows the postcode?

- How do you ensure the vehicle remains useable after tipping out time on a Saturday night?

- How do you make it secure against terrorism, for example carrying a bomb to a sensitive destination? Actually in Milton Keynes that might be a benefit...

- how do you prevent someone with the appropriate equipment just nabbing a few vehicles, craning them onto a flatbed and breaking them up for valuable components?

My yardstick for PRT is whether it would be better than a fleet of battery/hybrid taxis. The taxi driver can help with wayfinding, police behaviour and ensure the vehicle is clean and tidy for the next user (hopefully at the cost of the previous one!). The fares for a PRT system would need to give a return on the capital spent on a lot of expensive equipment probably built elsewhere, whereas much of a taxi fare goes to pay the driver's wages and support other local businesses.