Computer-controlled cars ride rails of copper
By Bob Freund
freund@postbulletin.com
Conventioneers flow a few blocks from their downtown hotels to events at Mayo Civic Center.
Doctors and other Mayo Clinic staff members board a continuous parade of shuttle buses between Saint Marys Hospital and the downtown Mayo campus on work days.
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Daily commuters park their cars in lots away from the downtown core and take public transit to their jobs; others might like to avoid parking in the congested downtown area if a quick, convenient ride were to be available.
How about a monorail? An automated people mover?
A Twin Cities company has designed a system generically known as "personal rapid transit." It's in the sky, but, from a technological standpoint, it's not pie-in-the-sky.
Taxi 2000 Corp.'s SkyWeb Express could travel above the street at speeds between 20 and 40 mph. Passengers summon its small cars, which are magnetically propelled. The computer-controlled cabs travel non-stop to the passenger's destination.
The company now is seeking a site for a full-scale test track. Neither the city of Rochester nor Mayo Clinic are actively considering a SkyWeb Express system, but at least one Minnesota metropolitan area has placed itself in the running.
Who knows what the future holds? Maybe someday, inner-city traffic will be moved along on copper-plated magnetic rails.
