BAA sees future in electric driverless taxis
By Colin Holland
November 2005

http://i.cmpnet.com/eetuk/2005/news11/031105ats1.jpg


LONDON — Within a few years passengers at Heathrow Airport could be whisked from passenger car parks to terminals in futuristic driverless taxis. The technology behind these four-seater computer-controlled vehicles has been developed by Bristol University spin-out company Advanced Transport Systems (ATS).

The ATS ULTra Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system has been chosen by the British Airports Authority to improve access to its terminals at Heathrow. The agreement also includes an investment of £7.5million in ATS by BAA in return for 25% of the equity. The investment has been organised with help from ICON Corporate Finance which acts for technology, communications and media companies advising them on raising venture capital, exits, acquisitions, MBOs and private placings.

The prototype ULTra system has been under development since 1999, with Government support from the Department of Transport, the Department of Trade and Industry, NESTA, and the EC. The prototype system was given consent by HM Rail Inspectorate to carry passengers in 2003.



ATS is to provide the system of driverless taxis and dedicated infrastructure in a year long trial at Heathrow, which if successful will be rolled out to the all terminals as well as other airports. The best location for the pilot scheme is currently under review.

ULTra offers a new form of public transport, one that waits for the passenger rather than the passenger waiting for it. This is a new solution to the problems of urban transport, but one that uses off the shelf technology.

ULTra it said to save more than half of the fuel used by existing forms of public or private transport.

ATS was set up in 1995 and has been funded to date by a mixture of internal funding and contract funding from both Government and customers, together with significant 'in-kind' support from major industrial partners. The work has been supported by the Department for Transport, the Department for Trade and Industry, NESTA and the EC.

The ULTra system uses a fleet of low power, electrically driven vehicles on a dedicated guideway network of routes. The operation of the system and movement of the vehicles on the network is managed by software and systems developed by ATS.

http://i.cmpnet.com/eetuk/2005/news11/031105ats2.jpg

BBC NEWS VIDEO CLICK HERE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/shared/player/vid100.stm?clippos=0&clipurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/news_web/video/41030000/bb/41030070_bb_16x9!asx&title=Driverless%20cars%20to%20appear%20at%20Heathrow&wintype=200&rhs=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4440000/newsid_4446800/bb_wm_4446806.stm&cs=news&fsname=bb_wm_fs&bw=bb)

werent they going to use the system in Cardiff? Then it didnt go a head

There was a report on the news saying that Cardiff, Daventry and Swindon were interested!

What is it with this country and God-awful upholstery designs on public transport?

http://i.cmpnet.com/eetuk/2005/news11/031105ats2.jpg

should all be tartan

BAA sees future in electric driverless taxis
By Colin Holland
November 2005

http://i.cmpnet.com/eetuk/2005/news11/031105ats1.jpg





Well that's me f**ked. :goodbye:



.

Hi! Welcome to a Johnny Cab!

Nice idea.

The agreement also includes an investment of £7.5million in ATS by BAA in return for 25% of the equity.


This is a superb move by getting Heathrow involved with a quarter ownership, this will help secure a longer term deal past the one year trial.

Sorry Cabman, I can see this really taking off (pardon the pun).

Driverless cabs? A leap into the future and it’s about time; considering I used to think that by 2005, I'd be living happily on a moonbase somewhere.

werent they going to use the system in Cardiff? Then it didnt go a head
...Maybe they decided against the idea after they realised what these 'personal' unmanned pods would probably end up looking like after a weekend of typical town mayhem -- generously soiled by beer, piss, and sick (...with the possible addition of semen, if it was a really good night).

What is it with this country and God-awful upholstery designs on public transport?

http://i.cmpnet.com/eetuk/2005/news11/031105ats2.jpg

...It doesn't show up the stains so much (see above).

Well that's me f**ked. :goodbye:
...I think you're safe for quite a while (also see above).

Inside Out London: The driverless taxis set to revolutionise Heathrow (http://bbc.co.uk/i/p7kjy/?t=19m55s)

Lol at the undulating track that looks like a rollercoaster. Making all this fuss about being driverless when its not that different to the Docklands.

Thought is what happens if it breaks down on that skyway? One engine, battery or computer failure means the other 20 cars are stuck.

Lol at the undulating track that looks like a rollercoaster. Making all this fuss about being driverless when its not that different to the Docklands.

It's not on rails and it's an on-demand system with multiple stations. Read up on it; it's an interesting technology. I can see it working well as an alternative to traditional light rail. (E.g. linking the new developments planned between Ebbsfleet and Bluewater with Dartford and Gravesend.)

It may even remove the need for private cars in urban areas, though that's probably a long way off yet.

Thought is what happens if it breaks down on that skyway? One engine, battery or computer failure means the other 20 cars are stuck.

I'll be surprised if there aren't some bugs to iron out once it's open to the public, but I doubt they'll be showstoppers. None of the individual technologies used are particularly new.

Electric motors are much more reliable so than internal combustion engines. With no drivers to worry about, you eliminate the possibility of interface faults too (e.g. broken pedals, failed indicator lights, etc. Headlights aren't required for the computer either.)

The machines also have plenty of self-diagnostic features and recharge automatically too, so if a battery is on its way out, it'll be spotted automatically.

If the vehicle should fail, there are end doors, side doors and a footpath along the side of the guideway. (As there won't be any units in front of the failed one, it'll be perfectly safe to walk along the guideway.)

If a unit fails completely, the Heathrow installation will involve sending out an engineer's unit to tow the failed one back to the depot. I daresay the engineer's unit will also have enough room for the displaced passengers too. This means the worst-case delay will be about 15 minutes*, assuming a unit fails at the start of the main guideway to the airport.

If a unit fails at a station, you just get out of it and into another one.

* (5 mins. for the vehicles in front of the failed unit to clear the guideway, so the engineer's unit can reach it—about 10-12 mins. total. The following vehicles would follow behind the engineer's unit as it heads back.)

No look at the video, the skyway undulates according to the lay of the land rather than raising or lowering the supports heights.

I also didnt say rails I said track, the cabs follow beacons underneath and in the raised pavement on either side of the narrow trail barely wider than the vehicles themselves except at junctions.