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Space-Age Monorail Bows to Pick You Up

by Chad Mumm on April 1, 2009 at 09:18 AM


Don't blame us, but we're a little disappointed by the lack of Jetsons-style transportation in this, the 21st century. That's why we couldn't suppress some silly grins when we saw this new rail system designed by students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Faced with the imposing infrastructural challenge of boarding stations, the industrial design students decided to ditch them altogether.

Their design uses automated passenger pods that are connected to an elevated track by large arms, which lower the pods to ground level for boarding and de-boarding. The elevated track would allow the monorail's host community to develop the area beneath it; the students' plans call for municipal areas like parks and promenades (all connected by moving sidewalks, we hope).

We dream of a future filled with space cars and housekeeping robots, where we walk our domesticated foxes and gaze serenely at the sun, high in the blogosphere. In this idyllic world, we can easily imagine our public transportation gracefully lowering its cars to sweep us off the grass and whisk us away into our gleaming cities. Here's hoping. [From: The Advocate, Via: DVICE]

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Tags: future, future tech, FutureTech, monorail, transportation

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