• Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    I’m not saying that it’s hugely expensive. I’m just saying that a Y-shaped rail with a switch should be significantly cheaper.

    Particularly, moving parts are a pain for maintenance. These kind of systems, you want to operate for 20+ years and the less bearings there are to oil, the better.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        I’m definitely willing to believe that they’ve got monorail-like flanges. That would probably help with stabilizing. But where the hell are you able to see a picture of the wheels? There’s a few angles in the video which quickly show the wheels, but I can’t actually see much anyways. 🫠

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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      6 months ago

      They’re probably marketing this as requiring zero infrastructure changes to attract buyers and investors. Just put the pod lifter at the end of the track and it’s done.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        Yeah, that’s quite possible, that they offer it for marketing. Maybe also to give municipalities an option to try out the system for a few months and see, if it attracts much interest. If it doesn’t, you can just pack up the pods and cranes, and market it to the next city.

        I was mainly confused how off-handedly this gets mentioned in the article, as if that was clearly the logical method for moving a vehicle from one place to another…