No Tips Required
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday June 18, 2004
The future as depicted in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1990 film Total Recall (pictured right) is upon us: automated cabs.
Arnie's sci-fi flick may have been set in 2084 but mere earthlings won't have to wait that long for the driverless taxi. Next year, commuters in Cardiff should be the first city dwellers in the world to hail them.
Called ULTra vehicles, short for Urban Light Transport system, the cabs drive themselves on magnetic tracks beside existing roads or on elevated gantries.
Computers in ULTra vehicles provide the brain power and horsepower is generated from fuel-cell technology, enough to reach speeds up to 40kmh.
Commuters will buy a ticket from a station or taxi stop. The transaction orders a waiting cab and programs the destination, via the quickest route. At the destination, the cab waits for another fare or travels to another order.
Professor Martin Lowson, from Bristol University's Advanced Transport Group, is the mastermind behind the concept.
"The idea is that it will be the dominant form of transport in the world for the next century, just as the car was for the 20th century," Lowson says.
"The principles of public transport have remained unchanged for more than 200 years. I just thought it's not being done very well and there must be a better way."
The Welsh National Assembly has pledged seed funding of $47.6 million to get the ULTra project going. A three-kilometre loop linking Cardiff's central train station with its bay area is expected to start operating in 2005.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald