Podcars need to boldly go farther
PHOTO SUPPLIED
Advocates hope podcars like this will provide a viable alternative to automobiles.
One of the big problems with mass transit is inherent in the name – it's for the masses. And one of the great attractions of private cars is that they are private, giving people a sense of both isolation and autonomy, as well as the ready ability to transport the constant carriage of our lives: briefcases, computers, groceries, et al.
Podcars – individual vehicles for one or two or small groups of people, running autonomously on point-to-point networks – are being proffered as the latest alternative to the private automobile.
And they do address some of the problems with conventional mass transit that are keeping us in our cars. But, as generally conceived, they still fall short of what we need.
Such systems would potentially be more energy efficient and less polluting than either private cars or conventional mass transit systems and they would address the issue of privacy, while improving users' autonomy relative to conventional mass transit.
But that autonomy would be limited to the prescribed routes, which is one of the very real problems with current bus and subway systems. Along with the issue of privacy, it is the ability to get where one needs to go, not just where transit takes them, that keeps many people like me in cars, even within the city core.
Besides, the infrastructure costs and right-of-way issues involved in building and operating such exotic systems would probably doom any attempt to implement them. Except, perhaps, for new, green-field cities or self-contained communities such as airports or university campuses. But that may not be the end of the story. Within the podcar concept there is the germ of an idea that just might provide a real alternative to both mass transit and the private car.
What if, for example, the podcar networks were not exotic monorails or magnetic levitation systems but simply dedicated, or even semi-dedicated, lanes on our regular roadways? Those lanes would require only the installation of an electronic guide-wire beneath the surface to keep the podcars on the right path.
It's not a new idea – the technology is well developed. It is used by thousands of Automatic Guided Vehicles operating in manufacturing plants all over the world. And it's been the stuff of science-fiction movies for years, such as I, Robot and Minority Report.
As for the podcars themselves, they could be just minimalized Low Speed Vehicles of the type used in gated communities and, in many jurisdictions, on speed-limited sections of public roadways.
Such a system would go a long way towards offsetting the attraction of the private car, addressing the privacy issue and supporting the constant need to carry "stuff." But not far enough.
It only partially satisfies the need for autonomy – to get precisely to one's destination, not just somewhere close. But a dedicated array of routes populated by self-guided cars could be the core of the system, if there were another option.
What if, at designated stations, the automatic guidance systems could be over-ridden by manual controls and you could drive the podcar off the prescribed route, right to your actual destination? And return it to a station on the route when your errand or meeting is complete.
Some controls would undoubtedly be needed. But car-sharing projects in Japan, for example, have demonstrated how such vehicles can be prevented from leaving designated geographical areas via GPS and satellite-based controls.
The concept is feasible. It may not solve our city-core transportation problems, but it is potentially an answer. And it is one that just might get me out of my car.
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