Vehicles

The vehicle is the moving part of the TS, in which passengers or freight is carried. Satisfying the constraints from Section 1.1 and 1.2, a vehicle should have the following general features:

• vehicle size is determined by:
  • minimization of vehicle size^1.2

  • space for four seated adult persons plus baggage in case of person transport

  • long enough for a tall person to lie down in comfort

  • space for maximum three industrial pool pallets Euro tool pallets are $1.2$m long, $0.8$m wide and $1.44$m high. But there should be also sufficient space for equivalent ISO pallets.
  The inner dimensions of the vehicles should be approximately:
  • $1.3$m width
  • $3$m length
  • $1.5$m height

• payload of one vehicle should be limited, probably to a value of about: $500$kg. This maximum weight is introduced in order to limit the costs and visual impact of the transport system infrastructure. The weight of $500$kg corresponds also to the weight of four adults with baggage.

• vehicle propulsion should whenever possible performed by electric motors, because they have a high efficiency, are low noise, have no local emission and have also low maintenance costs. The vehicles should take the electrical energy from the track, wherever possible Batteries or other energy storage should only be used when necessary and for short distances. Energy storage systems add to the weight of the vehicle and have high maintenance costs.

• Vehicle form should be aerodynamic (target $c_{w}=0.3$) and have a futuristic design.

• Vehicles should be able to run:
  • on guideways separated from pedestrians
  • on the ground in areas shared with other vehicles and pedestrians. In this case speed must be limited at walking speed and have fail-safe collision avoidance systems
• Vehicles should be easy to clean and maintain.

Within the above defined vehicle dimensions, payload and safety criteria, the vehicle interior should be freely customizable. Below we define the features of standard person and freight vehicles. Standard vehicles represent the vast majority of all vehicles, they are shared and should be everywhere available. For this reason, standard vehicles should cover a large spectrum of transportation applications.

Standard passenger vehicle

A standard passenger vehicle is a vehicle customized for the transport of passengers, but needs to accomodate a variety of passenger plus baggage loads in a flexible way.

• Interior vehicle design:
  • welcoming atmosphere
  • warms and soft colors, but with (irregular) patterns of a darker color to hide smaller dirt patches
  • fitting without sharp corners

• Furniture:
  • at least one of the seats should be situated near the door and be at a height at which an elderly person can set in and out conveniently. At the same time the seats should be acceptable and comfortable for other users, for example a 13 year old child should be able to get into the seat.

  • seats with places for 4 adults or 2 adults with 3 children.

  • seat configuration should allow for enough room such that a adult with a child carriage or the passenger in a wheel chair can enter the vehicle and have easy access to the user terminal.

  • seats should be able to be configured as a bed.

  • there should be provisions to perform basic office work in the vehicle.

• Luggage capacity: large enough for four medium sized suitcases. Possibly enlargeable by moving or folding the back seats to the front, so that there is sufficient space for larger objects, such as shopping charts, bikes, small furniture and objects of similar size.

• All buttons, handles, openers and displays:
  • should need little physical effort.
  • can be operated and read by a 13 year old child.
  • buttons should be large enough and with an appropriate profile such that visually impaired persons can feel them.
  • Display information should be acoustically available, if desired.

• User terminal (see Section 1.7.1) inside the vehicle with keypad and display through which the passengers can communicate with the TS. The user terminal also includes options to interrupt or divert the trip.

• Emergency break near the user terminal which is protected against accidental activation.

• Emergency button near the user terminal to call for assistance or help.

• Emergency exit should allow escape from the vehicle in case the door is blocked.

• Open-door button inside the vehicle, beside the door. Its function is to open the door when vehicle is stopped or to prevent doors from closing (similar function to the "open door" button in an elevator).

• User card reader with display outside the vehicle, beside the door. The users can insert their user card which will open the vehicle, like unlocking a car. The display shows the user-id number in the case the vehicle is booked (See Section 1.7.5).

• Green light and buzzer beside the user card reader, to indicate available or booked (empty) vehicles.

• Provisions for an ISDN connector for phone and Internet connection. The necessary ISDN infrastructure is not a part of MAIT .

• Protection against persons who try to break in violently.

• Loudspeakers to be able to listen to system messages or passenger supplied audio sources, if desired.

• Smoke and damage sensors.

standard freight vehicle

The standard freight vehicle has the dimension of the standard passenger vehicle but it is empty (apart from fixing points for containers) and has no user terminal. See also Sections 1.7.6 and 1.7.7. The standard freight vehicle has the following features:

• it can be completely controlled by external user terminals, including:
  • door locking and unlocking
  • door opening and closing

• door opening and closing buttons outside the vehicle, beside the door. The door open button opens the door if the vehicle is unlocked. The door close button shuts the door when loading is completed (see Sections 1.7.6 and 1.7.7)
• an emergency door open button inside the vehicle to allow a person to escape in the event of being trapped inside
• easy to load and unload three standard industrial pallets

• support for automatic loading and unloading. Here the user-terminal can be a computer that controls:
  • door opening and closing of vehicle

  • loading or unloading freight. This is done with TS external facilities. However, standardization would be useful also for those facilities
• vehicle should be suitable for indoor transport