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Innovation Future Specialist

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A Trip through City One

An example trip through City One is shown below.

Peter decides he wants to meet his friend Harry for lunch tomorrow. So he asks the intelligent assistant on his phone to check if Harry is okay with that, and to then pick a venue they both like, book a table, and book a journey from his home to the venue...

Transport Preferences

After checking with Harry and booking the venue, the assistant prompts Peter before booking the journey:

» Assistant: The venue is booked for 12:30 PM. Do you want to use your default travel preferences?

» Peter: No, I will select some preferences for this journey

» Assistant: Shows options: flying, overhead levels, ground, underground, fastest routing, opaque pod, transparent pod, exterior [colours], interior [colours], number of people [1 - 6]

» Peter: Selects: overhead levels, ground, underground, fastest routing, opaque pod, exterior purple, interior white, number of people 2

transport preferences menu

Click the link to see a full screen view of the Preferences Menu.

The Next Day

When Peter awakes the next day, his assistant reminds him of the lunch appointment and just before departure time it reminds him to walk out of his apartment to the lift door, number 3 on his floor.

The Lift Door

At 12:20 the lift door opens and Peter steps into his pod, which matches his stated preferences.

pod and lift doors

Click the link to see a full screen view of the pod and lift doors.

(Note the tinted glass on the lift doors.)

Going Underground

The pod, embraced by a maglev harness, goes down towards the underground levels, while Peter starts watching a trailer for a new VR game. In underground level 2, the pod is automatically released from its maglev harness and connected to a self-driving harness, at the same quick speed they used to change tyres in Formula 1 racing.

pod going down the lift shaft

Click the link to see a full screen view of the pod going down the lift shaft.

pod harness being changed

Click the link to see a full screen view of the pod harness being changed.

Underground Route

An optimum route has been planned through the adaptive underground space.

underground route

Click the link to see a full screen view of the underground route.

The Destination

The pod is driven off down the underground level then it emerges at ground level and 4 minutes later arrives at the lunch venue. Peter disembarks from the pod and it drives off.

pod arriving at the destination

Click the link to see a full screen view of the pod arriving at the destination.

Harry

Harry is late again. The AI transport system knew that Harry had an 86 percent chance of being late, and it would be keeping his non-refundable deposit for failing to board his pod at the nominated start time. His deposit had increased twice over the last week for persistently turning up late. Harry had chosen to fly to the venue. When he eventually got to the lift door on his floor and entered the pod, the maglev harness took the pod up 10 floors then horizontally to a drone bay on the side of his building. The pod was quickly transferred from its maglev harness to a drone harness and flown autonomously to the lunch venue. Peter smiled and said "I see you have come in style again, and late again", and then they had a great day.

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