Imagine a passenger capsule that can be mounted on an autonomous car, a drone, or even the carriages of a train. Reusing elements across vehicles is a very interesting idea, and it seems Airbus envisioned something similar with its Pop.Up concept. Lightweight materials, plenty of artificial intelligence, and a good dose of augmented reality define the Pop.Up, but I'm afraid its presentation video doesn't do it much justice…
The Concept
Transport is complicated; there's no denying it. Even with the advantage of a personal vehicle, we can't use it at maximum efficiency, and when we look closely at public solutions, well… satisfaction rates are not very high. Most futuristic transport projects propose greater personalization, automated traffic distribution, smart streets and vehicles, and most importantly: adding an extra dimension.
Elon Musk is making a lot of noise with The Boring Company and his plan to develop an underground tunnel network for traditional vehicles, and why not, the Hyperloop. However, the idea from Airbus goes in the opposite direction.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5KhRfThYS4gWhat you just watched is the Pop.Up concept, originally presented at the last edition of the Geneva Motor Show. The star of the design is the cabin, with capacity for two people, a carbon fiber structure, and an augmented reality platform that identifies the passenger and modifies their environment according to special parameters, including happiness and/or stress. Both the land module and the quadcopter (with eight rotors in total) that lifts the cabin are electric. The drone can cover a distance of about 95 kilometers, and when they have finished their work, both return automatically to their charging stations. As expected, the Pop.Up is hyperconnected, with real-time news, feedback requests, and notifications of all kinds.
The train part seems to be the least efficient of the whole concept. Perhaps the design of those high-speed trains requires a linear installation of the cabins, but if the plan is to optimize transport, more people should travel in them. Leaving aside the fact that the short looks like something out of a '90s QuickTime-based video game, Pop.Up has some appeal, although Airbus will take its development very slowly.
