Technology brings seemingly 'out-of-this-world' and ideas 'down to earth'

If you want to know about Advanced Vehicle Transport, imagine high-speed, horizontal conveyors for cars.

The similarity

Imagine being at an airport and having to walk to a terminal that is equivalent of three football fields in length, set end to end, just to catch a flight - with baggage in tug, no less. Now envisage covering that same distance without having to walk at all. This can be (and has all been) made achievable through a so-called "horizontal elevator" which is in incessant motion as on the order of a vertical elevator produced to provide the same function. But one in constant motion like the ordinary escalator. There would be air travelers with their luggage in this case, ease onto the automatic, lateral-moving people and luggage transfer device. The transporters carry such apparently effortlessly to that part of the airport that is 900 feet distant.

The vision



Now take this concept one step beyond and instead of a horizontal conveyor for people and luggage only, visualize a conveyor for the car that produces the same effect




The model

Randak has come up with a method that allows drivers to transport their motor vehicles (occupant(s) included) from one location to another via magnetically levitated train, and all done mechanically via computer controlled operation, no less.

Here is how it works.


The driver drags the vehicle into a waiting or staging area. Via a keypad, destination information is programmed in, after which the car is driven onto a type of transfer table that then gets activated, inching vehicle and occupant(s) onto a vehicle shuttle, the shuttle then whisking car and occupant(s) next to a moving train, the automobile shuttle then relaying its contents (car and company) to the train for further forwarding. Conversely at the destination, the moving train discharges the vehicle onto the moving shuttle, after that the shuttle transfers the automobile to the destination station staging area via transfer table, and off the car goes (under its own power).

The basic idea is that this could be accomplished at less cost than what would be the case to drive said vehicle the comparable distance over a highway – and it would be far sooner as well.

The luxury automaker will produce 200 zero-emission vehicles, each based on the current B-Class compact. Half of these have been earmarked for the U.S., with the majority being expected to end up in California where there are currently hydrogen filling stations.