(CNN)Driverless pods, gliding above city streets using a network of elevated guideways. This is SkyTran -- but is it the future?
SkyTran wants to do away with train schedules and central stations to develop a grid system above the ground with multiple "off ramps" acting as stations where users can board pre-booked pods -- a cab service for the skies.
Call for SkyTran on your smart phone and a computer-controlled, magnetically levitating pod arrives. It will whisk you across the city to your destination.
"The next big innovation is going to be in automated transit," says John Cole, SkyTran CTO and director. "Transportation will just recede into the background of lives, as something that just happens automatically. I think about where I want to go, tell a computer where I want to go and it just takes me there -- seamlessly.