skyTran
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Israel is building a futuristic 'hover-monorail' that could come to the US
"Ehh, it's not for you, Tel Aviv -- it's more of a Shelbyville idea." We doubt a company called skyTran used Lyle Lanley's pitch, but it just announced that a futuristic train test loop will be built at the Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) campus in Lod, Israel. SkyTran's so-called personal rapid transit is a magnetic levitation (maglev) system that'll propel two-person pods along a monorail-type track. In theory, you'd order a car by smartphone, get picked up at a station and be whisked to your destination. The IAI trial will run at about 45 mph, but future trains will be much faster. If all goes well, the first commercial system will be built at Tel Aviv for $80 million and tracks are also planned for France, India and California. If all this smells of hucksterism, skyTrans is located on NASA's campus and is a Space Act Agreement partner -- it's not Leonard Nimoy, but it's something.
Second Life helps model real life transit system
A University of California, Irvine computer scientist named Crista Lopes has been using Second Life to work on her rapid transit project called SkyTran. Apparently, SL's physics are close enough to real life that a workable simulation of the system can be built initially, with tweaks to the controlling software to be made upon export from SL.There's more to the article beyond what I've summarized here, and you can see a video interview with Ms. Lopes here. This would be reporter Colin Stewart's first visit to SL, apparently, judging by his newbie avatar looks; or perhaps he just doesn't care to spend the time customizing. There's a cute bit where he says 'ouch' as he hops into one of SkyTran's cars and gets pushed through a bush. I love seeing things like this, but I hope Ms. Lopes remembers to adjust for the absence of lag. [Thanks, Colin!]
