What if you required everyone to punch in their destination on a companion app, Uber-style, before even approaching the platform? Then all you have to do is wait until the app gives you the green light to approach the platform (your car is ready), get in, and maybe tap your phone to an NFC reader mounted in the car or something to confirm you're the passenger it thinks you are, and you're off. I imagine that the entire process from green-lighted to doors-closed-and-moving could be 15-30 seconds on average.
There could still be a phoneless kiosk/swipe system for people who don't have/don't want to use the app version, but with cheap Android phones available for $20-$50 (and that's today -- imagine where we'll be in 5 years) I figure 95% of throughput could use the streamlined flow.
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All that said, I think I agree with the article's sentiment that this system's time may have come and gone. It's hard to imagine what transport will look like 15 years from now, but I suspect that electric robot taxis as part of a multi-modal transport infrastructure with existing trains/subways could deliver most of the benefit of a personal pod system without the huge infrastructure investments of building a completely new set of tracks all over the city.
Comments
What if you required everyone to punch in their destination on a companion app, Uber-style, before even approaching the platform? Then all you have to do is wait until the app gives you the green light to approach the platform (your car is ready), get in, and maybe tap your phone to an NFC reader mounted in the car or something to confirm you're the passenger it thinks you are, and you're off. I imagine that the entire process from green-lighted to doors-closed-and-moving could be 15-30 seconds on average.
There could still be a phoneless kiosk/swipe system for people who don't have/don't want to use the app version, but with cheap Android phones available for $20-$50 (and that's today -- imagine where we'll be in 5 years) I figure 95% of throughput could use the streamlined flow.
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All that said, I think I agree with the article's sentiment that this system's time may have come and gone. It's hard to imagine what transport will look like 15 years from now, but I suspect that electric robot taxis as part of a multi-modal transport infrastructure with existing trains/subways could deliver most of the benefit of a personal pod system without the huge infrastructure investments of building a completely new set of tracks all over the city.