Another system, called ULTra (Urban Light Transport) and developed by the British company Advanced Transport Systems (ATS), also offers on-demand personal transport with virtually no waiting time to take individual passengers non-stop to their chosen destination. The system operates with a fleet of driverless electric vehicles, running on a network of elevated or ground level guided routes.
The first ULTra (Urban Light Transport) system is actually under
construction at the moment at Heathrow airport in London. It will be operable in the fall of 2008. A certain Dutch company has recently signed an agreement to introduce ULTra in the Netherlands and Belgium. The low-floor vehicles have a seating capacity of four, with some additional standing room or space for a wheelchair. Although maximum speed is limited to 40 kilometres per hour, the non-stop service can make trip times two or three times faster than other urban transport. Passengers use the system by going to the nearest station on the network. Via a smart card process they select their desired destination. The passenger destination is passed to central control, which in turn sends the nearest available vehicle in the network to the station. According to ATS, simulations demonstrate that waiting times average around 10 seconds. The empty vehicle management system redirects empty vehicles to places with known demand and ensures that batteries are reloaded at a docking station when power is low. The lack of a power supply rail on the track significantly reduces infrastructure costs