How do you compare Autoway with the futurists cars in Steven Spielbergs Minority Report?
The movie Minority Report has some artistic renderings about future transportation. Autoway is a practical transportation invention. The vehicles on Autoway can move horizontally as well as vertically. The vertical movement is accomplished with a vehicle carrier. One noticeable difference is that Maglev is used in the movie but not used on Autoway. A common misconception about Maglev is energy efficiency as it does not have contact with the track and it eliminates the surface resistance. In fact, the major resistance at the high speed is the resistance from air. Maglev makes little difference in energy efficiency. The real advantage of Maglev over conventional rail is the lower maintenance cost and lower noise level. Autoway solves the problem of conventional rail by separating the guiding and driving functions. Therefore, we achieve a lower maintenance cost and a lower noise level in a different way without the costly guideway structure of Maglev. Maglev may find its applications at h
