So it looks like the chinese now have a working full size prototype of these. Can't quite figure out if it's a guided busway or a tram. Clearly they follow prescribed routes one way or another...
What are the chances of getting them into simutrans?! :D
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/08/03/china-testing-bus-straddles-road-travels-above-it/87991638/
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/f1fe9d2e2d8e78e6bc1b5ea2c1fcc9dc2a4669db/c=170-0-2830-2000&r=x393&c=520x390/local/-/media/2016/08/03/USATODAY/USATODAY/636058065992381971-AP-China-Straddling-Bus.jpg)
It seems like a good idea ... but this is only for city vehicles, not for freight vehicles or transport.
However transport the city cars could be a good business and also to give a better purpose to the city cars. :D
It sort of looks like the kind of ferries that operates in calm waters, with the ground standing in for the car deck. I can't image it can turn to sharply when it is standing in traffic, so it will likely just move up and down a relatively straight road. That would seem more common for a tram than a guided bus to me, although it is perhaps more related to gantry cranes in terms of how it moves.
I wonder if a similar concept has been proposed for getting passenger onto and off trains at speed. There are some overhead concepts for that, but I don't remember if any I've seen had its own legs. (One of the side-by-side concepts would however be more likely to be realized, since most high-speed trains have overhead wires.)
They are only viable in modern planned cities such as in China which have massive roads and motorways running through the cities. The cities here in Europe have too narrow streets. For example you will never be able to use them in London, Berlin, Paris etc.
I think they are being used more to show off technological capabilities rather than being practical. For the same footprint area one could place supports for an elevated way allowing double the traffic. Undoubtedly they look cool.
The article I read about it states that it does run on tracks.
Quote from: DrSuperGood on August 03, 2016, 10:32:36 PM
I think they are being used more to show off technological capabilities rather than being practical. For the same footprint area one could place supports for an elevated way allowing double the traffic.
From what I hear, the last thing China needs is a doubling of traffic, as long as combustion based engines remain the most common.
And a car that is blocked under it can no more turn, it seems. I'm not convinced by the concept. The idea is supposed to be "do not disrupt the car traffic", but it seems to me it will be disrupted anyways.
Maybe intersections in China, or at least the ones these things will pass through, don't allow traffic to go straight ahead and turn at the same time. Or maybe it passes over intersections on two narrow bridges. That might still be cheaper than building a raised or otherwise dedicated full-width roadway for the entire route. Still, these are quite some assumptions for practical/safe operation of this thing.