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My idea for Google Project 10 to the 100


What is Google's Project 10 to the 100

Project 10 to the 100 was launched by Google to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the birth of the company. It consists of a competition of ideas where anyone who wanted to contribute, sends his proposal which, once implemented, will contribute to help many people.
Five ideas, between all the ideas sent (the contest ended in October 2008), will be selected and ten million dollars will be allocated to implement them.

Who will see his idea chosen will have nothing except the satisfaction of having contributed to making the world better because the money did not go to those who proposed the idea but to the firm that will undertake to achieve it.

What is my idea

Since childhood I liked the trains and the railways and of course I played with electric trains. In this field, both in automation and in software, it made a great progress.
The train, however, by its nature, can't have a widespread distribution. Its apparent slowness is due far more to the need for stops at stations to pick up and set down passengers as its speed.

So I thought how it would be nice to have a train that connects the two locations that interest me and that makes no intermediate stops. However, such a train can not exist unless it joins two great cities because it must always have enough passengers to justify its existence.

Then I wonder if it possible to combine the advantages of the train and the car by many carriages, big as a car, which attach and detach themselves automatically depending on where they go.
Surely many people thought this thing, but I have never found discussions about this on the press and scientific journals.

With today technology it is a project not difficult and not too much expensive. Certainly it costs less than that a subway.
Moreover, the prototype could be built and tested in a large playground which would be some attraction.

It was my intention to investigate my idea and present a study with a simulation model applied to a real case (perhaps about the town where I live: Castel Maggiore), however, when I saw the competition from Google, I felt useful to participate, hoping to refine my project afterwards.

In addition I will say that a point to explore thoroughly to get a good result is the creation of railroad switches because it is extremely important the minimum distance that two carriages must hold between their, so that they be able to take different ways.

What I wrote in the entry form

Your idea's name

Individual transport on railway track.

What one sentence best describes your idea?

On request a 4-seater coaches carry passengers automatically on semi-underground railway tracks replacing a similar network of buses.

Describe your idea in more depth

Narrow tunnels are excavated (just two meters by 1.50 each). They can be done under sidewalks or cycle tracks with a transparent part at the top to prevent claustrophobia in passengers.
In these tunnels 4-seater coaches (similar to the back of a limousine cab) travel by an electric motor which takes the current from the railroad track.

These carriages are driven by an on-board computer that interacts with the computers of other carriages, with those which manage railroad switches and with the central computer that controls everything and points the way from time to time better.
Every carriage accelerates to the previous to which queues forming a train. In the vicinity of a railroad switch where the coaches are going to take different ways, all coaches distance themselves enough.

Who wants to use one of these carriages goes to the nearest access point (frequent as bus stops or even more) and call a coach, typing where he wants to go. Then a carriage comes and brings him automatically to destination.
Obviously it is possible to get on and off only at access points because the tunnels must being reserved only to the movement of these carriages.

The central computer can move empty carriages from one point to another according to statistics which expect the points where may be a greater demand.
At night and in times of lower use the carriages can also be used for a rapid and widespread distribution of goods.

What problem or issue does your idea address?

This idea may be useful to remove the private traffic from urban areas, to accelerate the public transport and to improve air quality. It can also be applied to ancient cities of medieval layout because the required excavation is very small and much easier and cheaper than a subway.

In the case of large cities, the system can be broken into several semi-independent networks. The costs aren't excessive, so it is possible apply this idea also in small countries where the construction of a subway would be uneconomic.
If this system becomes widespread, it could then study even links between systems of different cities.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?

Everyone would benefit both for convenience and for costs not excessive, either for energy savings, both for the improvement of air quality.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?

To realize the idea needs to be tried in a large playground of which it would become an attraction as the others.
There are already manufacturers of rides and attractions that can make a good contribution.
Softwares similar to those needed have already been tested in California in an attempt to make trains of cars on the highway (far more difficult thing).
Even the new generation of toy electric trains is using interesting software.
Finally there are several software to choose the best path among several possible under the existing traffic.
The prototype should not cost a lot and the playground, where it is made, could have a good change both in visitors and in advertising.
Then this idea is applied to areas as larger.

Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented

The optimal outcome is that the idea will spread and people give up travel by private cars in cities and metropolitan areas. Over time it would not be necessary to have a private car if not for fun (e.g. to travel slowly on ancient roads with a roadster or a camper van).


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