www.advancedtransit.org Produced by: PRT Consulting, Inc.

JANUARY 2016

From the President....

I just returned from our annual Technix Conference (Envision Automated Transit - EAT) in DC. The conference was full of energy, and three breakout groups had fun envisioning future scenarios for three different communities. A common theme was that driverless taxis would play a prominent role supported by driverless transit such as PRT.

The ATRA Business Meeting followed the conference and five new board members were voted in:

Murthy Bondada
Gary Hsueh
Christopher Juniper
Eugene Nishinaga
Fred Payne

Another five were elected to a new three-year term:

Will Ackel
Rod Diridon
Nathan Koren
Jeral Poskey
Stan Young

Board members completing their terms were:

Wayne Cottrell
David Holdcroft
Mike Conwell

Christopher Juniper will replace Kjensmo Walker as treasurer and Gary Hsueh will replace Reuben Juster as secretary.

Many thanks to board members Wayne Cottrell, David Holdcroft, and Mike Conwell for their service and special thanks to Kjensmo Walker and Reuben Juster for all they have done (both continue to serve on the board).

The board approved a $23,100 budget (with some caveats) based on the 2016 Strategic Action Plan arising out of the November Strategic Planning Workshop. Now we need to start implementing it!

As always, enjoy reading!

Best regards,

Peter Muller, P.E., ATRA President

ATRA NEWS

Innovating Automated Transit Technology With Students
By Burford Furman, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State University

Summary: Students have played a vital role in the development of automated transit since the early 1950s and continue to do so. At San Jos� State University, we have been driving innovation in solar-powered automated transit network (ATN) development with students since 2012 and continue to the present day through the Spartan Superway Project. Read More...

Advanced Transit Systems - Necessary Industry Steps for Further Deployments

By Walter Kulyk, P.E.

Proponents of Advanced Transit (AT) system deployments must take bolder and newer steps to help deploy more and better AT systems across the country. AT systems for purposes of this article are those systems that include automated transit and automated roadway transit vehicle systems. Automated transit includes automated metro systems on guideways (such as the planned new system in Honolulu, Hawaii). These are generally limited to regional line-haul systems. Read More...

OTHER NEWS

Driverless Transit to Dominate in 2040: Planners
By Burney Simpson

What will transit look like in 2040? Lots of autonomous vehicles, lots of walking, and a bunch of Uber-style personal transit vehicles. That was the answer for about two-dozen transportation and transit experts at the Envisioning Automated Transit (EAT) event hosted by the Advanced Transit Association (ATRA). Read More...

PodcarCity9 - Sessions Recorded
Posted by Olja f�r Bl�b�r on YouTube
Videos were taken at the PodcarCity9 Conference in San Jose, CA in November 2015 and posted on youTube. Select and View Here...

Might Computer-Controlled Pods Alleviate Our Choked City Streets?
By Andrew Conrad
Austin could be the testing ground for personal rapid transit in major cities... As far as society has come in the arena of communications during the last 20 years, public transportation has been treading water as city streets continue to be choked by low-occupancy vehicles. Read More...

The Race to Create Elon Musk's Hyperloop Heats Up
By Alexander Chee
Two years after the Tesla CEO crowdsourced the idea for the Hyperloop, his dream of a 'fifth mode' of transportation is quickly and quietly becoming a reality, but what's his endgame? Read More...

MILLENIAL OUTLOOK
Podcar News

Young adults look at the world they are inheriting, frustrated by congestion and the high costs of keeping a car. Many try to get along without one. They value having the right device with cool apps to summon a ride without owning a car.

They scope out Uber, Lyft, Vulog and others leading a global transformation of urban mobility. Read More...

Let's seize 2016 as opportunity to learn from mistakes and move into the future
Bill Mego, Naperville Sun
Treating the new year as a fresh beginning is not only a good idea, it's necessary to preserve our sanity. There has to be a time when you turn your back on all the mistakes you made and start again, hoping that you somehow don't make the same ones again. Read More...

Will Orlando ever fit Walt Disney's vision of the future?
By Orlando Sentinel Columnist
In 2016, it will be 50 years since Walt Disney unveiled his vision of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Unfortunately he died a few months later, and his vision of residents living in a city of tomorrow was never realized, but it might be interesting to take a look at where we are 50 years later. Read More...

The (Other) Transportation Tech to Watch in 2016
By David Z. Morris

Tesla, Uber, and driverless cars ruled 2015. Here's what's on the horizon (maybe) for next year. As the Verge put it on Monday, 2015 was the year we learned that Silicon Valley is coming after the transportation industry. The momentum behind ride-hailing apps, driverless cars, and electric vehicles has become so powerful that their dominance can feel inevitable. Read More...

Driverless Cars Give Lawyers Bottomless List of Defendants
By Keith Naughton and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg News

Imagine a robot car with no one behind the wheel hitting another driverless car. Who's at fault?

The answer: No one knows. But plaintiff's lawyers are salivating at the prospects for big paydays from such accidents. If computers routinely crash, they say, then so will cars operated by them. And with no one behind the wheel, lawyers say they can go after almost anyone even remotely involved. Read More...

Masdar PRT Record Highs
2getthere Blog
On November 27th the Masdar City PRT system completed its fifth year of operations, setting all time highs in number of passengers carried per month and per year, passenger growth and system availability. Since the start of operations on 28 November 2010 one can only conclude automated passenger transport is a rock solid, reliable and efficient solution for both passengers as well as stakeholders. Read More...

Eco-friendly projects biting dust as civic bodies sleep
TNN, Times of India
JAIPUR: At a time when other cities are taking initiatives to reduce air pollution due to increasing number of vehicles, Pink City has completely failed to launch its proposed projects which were eco-friendly. Read More...

The above links are to articles that appear relevant to advanced transit but no guarantee is made as to their accuracy and no verification of the integrity of the associated websites has been made.

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January 2016 - In this Issue

ATRA News

Other News

Website Updates

PodcarCity9 Session Papers and Videos available.

Articles:

-Advanced Transit Systems

-Innovating Automated Transit Technology

View our Website for the latest ATRA news updates.

Upcoming Conferences

15th International Conference on Automated People Movers and Automated Transit Systems