The urban vehicle of tomorrow has just passed its first major test.
Developed in France by Urbanloop, a futuristic-looking capsule set an ecological world record on Friday morning.
Not a speed record, no, but that of the lowest energy consumption for an autonomous vehicle on rail.
At around 10:45 am, the capsule set off on a track set up in Tomblaine, on the outskirts of Nancy, in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
To achieve, after having covered two loops, a score which will speak little to the laymen, but which provoked on the site explosions of joy: 0.05 kWh / km.
Which would amount to less than half a penny for a kilometer traveled!
"A big bravo"
Invited for the occasion, the Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, launched "a big bravo" to the Urbanloop teams, a project he praised the "assets" of "energy sobriety, complementarity with other means of transport, accessibility for people with reduced mobility ”.
At speeds approaching 60 km / h, the single-seat capsules will be able to transport two people, a person in a wheelchair or a bicycle, from one station to another.
Artificial intelligence must make it possible to manage flows, to ensure that users do not have to wait for the arrival of a capsule in the station.
The objective is in particular to reduce automobile traffic and pollution.
Presentation today of the very innovative project of ultralight capsules on rail in Nancy.
With the minister @Djebbari_JB as a guest star.
@UrbanLoop_Nancy @MinesNancy @Univ_Lorraine pic.twitter.com/Jxz2UNcvYG
- Eric Béziat (@ericbeziat) May 28, 2021
Urbanloop is a project supported for four years by four engineering schools of the University of Lorraine (ENSEM, ENSG, Mines Nancy and Télécom Nancy).
The capsules could be put into service on the occasion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, Urbanloop having been selected like twenty other projects within the framework of a call for innovations on mobility from the Ministry of Transport.
The vehicle would link the Noisiel RER station to the Olympic site which will host the canoe-kayak and rowing events, in Vaires-sur-Marne, in Seine-et-Marne.