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JPods are a method of personal transportation that use distributed collaborative computer networks to route transit in a manner similar to the data trafficking of the Internet. Developed by JPods, Inc. as a form of personal rapid transit, ultra-light pods have an on-board computer that controls their motion.
Contents
Personal rapid transit was defined in Congressional Office of Technology Assessment Study PB-244854 as the solution for urban transport in response to the 1973 Oil Embargo. Morgantown, West Virginia installed a PRT system that has delivered 110 million oil-free, injury-free passenger miles, but where huge budget overruns crippled interest in PRT for several decades.
Transport Characteristics
In the demonstration JPod, people get in, touch a Home, Mall, School or Work on a touch screen computer and the vehicle navigates to that address. In production models people and/or cargo will set destination and travel non-stop from origin to destination.
Installations
JPods has signed letters-of-intent (see image of letter to the right) to build networks in 2014 with the cities of Secaucus (5-mile (8.0 km) network, US-NJ), Anshan (19-mile (30 km), China), and Linyi (120-mile (200 km), China). On June 25, 2014 the Town of Secaucus passed a Performance Standards Ordinance making it a law to grant rights of way access based on exceeding 120 passenger-miles per gallon.
System details
The computer network is managed in three tiers: