Heathrow Moves Forward With Pod Cars
Sixty years in the making, but on track at last for this British invention: a driverless, battery-powered, laser-guided pod.
These podcars shuttle passengers from the parking lot to the terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Half a century ago, a network like this was just a dream for British engineers. Now, for the first time, it’s a reality.
“It’s a bit like a ski lift, those ‘egg lifts,’ but much more modern. I think they’re brilliant. Very good.”
“No waiting around for buses like you normally have to do at Heathrow. Very efficient and clean.”
Engineers are hoping that’s the secret of the podcar.
Heathrow says it will save 50,000 shuttle bus journeys every year, cutting those carbon emissions to zero and waiting times to an average of 30 seconds.
But it’s not just at this airport that podcars are taking off…
With shrinking space for railways and roads already full, Indian cities like New Delhi and Amritsar are now looking to pods to keep their people moving.
“You know this airport does about 70 million passengers and we’re able to fit in this infrastructure here at Terminal 5 around an existing terminal, an exiting runway and across a river and a road. We’re taking lots of journeys off Heathrow’s congested roads, and we can see that translating into an urban environment in India where we can take lots of traffic off the roads and deliver a better experience for commuters in an Indian environment.”
Bottom line: Laser-guided pods land at London’s Heathrow Airport, allowing travelers to shuttle between terminals in futuristic fashion.
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