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Rediff.com  » Business » Now, driverless cars at Heathrow

Now, driverless cars at Heathrow

Source: ANI
August 12, 2009 14:30 IST
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Martin Lowson's 'ULTra Personal Pod Car at Heathrow Airport. Photograph: Courtesy, ATSBattery-operated driverless cars with bug-eyed windows will soon be carrying passengers at the Heathrow Airport.

The bubble shaped vehicles look like a capsule and their doors fold back like butterfly wings.

With a grey-and-white interior and seating space for four people, a "start" button on the wall makes up for the lack of a driver. Passengers programme their destination on a touch screen, and the car takes its own lane at a speed of 25 mph.

Martin Lowson, who worked on the Apollo launching Saturn V Rocket, has made the car.

Lowson started the work on this car in 1995 and the cars will start operating at Heathrow next year, ferrying passengers from the parking lot to Terminal 5.

"This could have the same effect on transport this century as the Rocket had on the 19th," Timesonline quoted Lowson as saying.

Lowson's 'ULTra Personal Pod Cars' will be the first one to be operated commercially.

However, some people like Paul Firmin, of the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds, are sceptical about the use of the revolutionary cars.

"I will be watching Heathrow airport with bated breath," he said.

Image: Martin Lowson's 'ULTra Personal Pod Car at Heathrow Airport. Photograph: Courtesy, ATS

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Source: ANI
 

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