JPods

Illustration of JPods network

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.

Personal rapid transit was defined in Congressional Office of Technology Assessment Study PB-244854[1] 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,[2] 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

Letter of Intent between JPods, Inc and the Town of Secaucus, NJ to build a JPods Network.
Time map illustrating walking, ticketing, and travel time from the Blue Cross. Green is 10 minutes, Yellow is 20 minutes, and Red is 30 minutes.

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.[3]

System details

  • vehicles weigh approximately 500 pounds (230 kg)[4] with a gross carrying capacity of 1,700 pounds (770 kg)
  • vehicles travel suspended below an overhead guideway that encases the bogies
  • bogies are the mechanisms that propel vehicles and from which the vehicle chassis is suspended. Bogies are composed of generally of motors, controllers, wheels, gearboxes, sensors, and switches.
  • switch control is managed by the vehicle and/or by the network
  • solar powered[5]
  • travel between 30 and 40 miles per hour (48 and 64 km/h)[6]

The computer network is managed in three tiers:

  • devices such as pods, switches, structures
  • negotiators collaborate with devices and load managers to set routes
  • load managers log time based demand to create a terrain map that allow appropriate routes to be identified and scheduled

References

  1. ↑ "PB-244854" (PDF). Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Retrieved 1975-06-01. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ↑ "Fox 9 News". Fox 9 News. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  3. ↑ "Ordinance 2014-23, Performance Standards". Town of Secaucus, NJ. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
  4. ↑ "Energy Neutral Transportation". Solarevolution.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  5. ↑ "Alternative Energy eMagazine - | AltEnergyMag". Earthtoys.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  6. ↑ "JPod Transportation Concept". Alternative-energy-news.info. 2007-01-04. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Knetwork- Personal Rapid Transit". Kinetic.seattle.wa.us. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Alternative Energy eMagazine - | AltEnergyMag". Earthtoys.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "JPods - Atrawiki". Advancedtransit.net. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Solar Living Institute - Solar Living Institute". Solarliving.org. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Personal Rapid Transit, Personal Automated Transit, PRT, PAT, PodCar, costs, history, illustrations, contact information, related websites, advocacy groups,deployment experiences, Masdar, 2getthere". Faculty.washington.edu. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "The future of big city mass transit may be a lot of driverless pods. | abc7news.com". Abclocal.go.com. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Pods that you summon whenever you need them on Smart Green Travel with Jerry Hart". Hart of Green. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "Corps of Engineers Talking Points" (PDF). JPods.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "TEDxMidAtlantic 2010 - Bill James - 11/5/10". YouTube. 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  • "TEDxAtlanta › Videos › Bill James". Tedxatlanta.com. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2014-02-16.


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