These happy-looking automatons are currently jetting passengers around Heathrow airport without any supervision at a 25 mph clip. Man, when did the future happen? I totally missed it.
Created by BAA, these Ultra PRTs whiz around Heathrow’s business parking lots independent of human intervention and have yet to experience what we call “an accident.” Breakdowns are also extremely rare and the system has a 95% reliability rate.
And lest you think this is some PR stunt, the system has been fully operational since April. The diesel buses (and presumably their human drivers) were retired at that time, and the Ultra PRTs have been transporting people with their four-seat configurations since then. The pods are on-demand as well, so unlike the buses they are not making a constant loop from terminal to parking lot looking for passengers. [NYT]