the Future of Transportation is here! Meet Shweeb

CptStern

CptStern

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In 2008 Google Inc. initiated Project 10^100 as a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. People from around the world submitted over 150,000 ideas that they wanted to bring to life. "Drive innovation in public transportation" was one of the five winning ideas, voted on by the public. Google Inc. subsequently searched the globe and selected Shweeb as the organisation with the most forward looking transportation vision and with the relevant expertise to implement such an idea. In September 2010 Google Inc. announced an investment of USD1m in SHL to assist with transit research and development.

Shweeb will soon announce the location where we will build the first transit Shweeb for public use!
Click to expand...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJMSHWLAShc&feature=player_embedded
 
How will the fatties fit?

Or on a more serious note, how could this be used in anything but flat terrain?
 
Looks like shit. Or should I say, shwit.

It might be okay for very short distances, but how is this the future of transportation? Seems like they just added pedals to a roller coaster that has no hills.
 
Tacoeaterguy said:
Looks like shit. Or should I say, shwit.

It might be okay for very short distances, but how is this the future of transportation? Seems like they just added pedals to a roller coaster that has no hills.
Click to expand...

Basically this.

This is just about the most impractical thing I've ever seen.
 
Seems like it would require almost equivalent energy to just jog, and that has the added bonus of being able to move in all directions.

This should be solar powered or something. Get out of here.

Pedal faster, I'm late for work.
 
It'd be practical if it were like a train, except it'd be a monorail. And those exist. So this is a Monobikerail really.
 
Now, instead of $10 in gas to get to work, you need $10 meal.

Congratulations.
 
how long before it comes with a sidecar so you can pay some homeless dude $1 to peddle you to work? ya I'd do that
 
isn't a bicycle about equally efficient and billions of dollars less costly (the tracks). I don't really understand the point of this. This is like, ****ing retarded.
 
So a bicycle enclosed in glass, on rails?

/unimpressed

I was hoping it was some kind of futurama style transport tube.
 
WTF is with the horribly made music??

also it looks like fun if your not fat!
 
VirusType2 said:
isn't a bicycle about equally efficient and billions of dollars less costly (the tracks). I don't really understand the point of this. This is like, ****ing retarded.
Click to expand...

I agree. WTF is going on here?
 
What? This would never work as a serious means of urban transportation. Even if it does become implemented in some areas, I cannot see it being used very often.

1. what happens when someone isn't pedaling fast enough and someone else needs to use the capsule?

2. As if Public Transportation wasn't disgusting enough, now I get to ride to work in a compact container filled with the last 5 dudes' Body Odor and sweat. It would be a goddamn disease container during the flu season.

3. What happens when your chain breaks and you sit their lookin' like a goddamn asshole, hanging 200 feet above traffic, and are late to work?
Boss: "Why are you 2 hours late to work?"
You: "lol I was tryin to be environmental and fit so I took da Shweeb"
Boss: " XD "

Shweeb through forests? Yeah, that's what I want when I go to a nature preserves, ****ing Shweeb rails and Shweebers all up in my bears and hawks and shit-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxVtUFZVzk&feature=related
 
So uhh... can you even see where you're going? Seems like it'd be pretty easy for people to chuck things in your path.
 
The thing that gets me is that you'll need like 50 gallons of water to take a shower and replenish lost fluids afterward. So much for going green, or whatever the **** is the purpose of this contraption.

EDIT: I'll even put a ****ing source -

Bath: 50 gallons
Shower: 2 gallons per minute

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sq3.html
 
Hang on let me text you back later, I have some dweeb in his schweeb jacking off in front of me and holding up the entire line.
 
VirusType2 said:
The thing that gets me is that you'll need like 50 gallons of water to take a shower and replenish lost fluids afterward. So much for going green, or whatever the **** is the purpose of this contraption.

EDIT: I'll even put a ****ing source -

Bath: 50 gallons
Shower: 2 gallons per minute

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sq3.html
Click to expand...

Huh? You mean like you would if you biked anyways?
 
Exactly. This whole idea is shit and solves nothing.

At least on a bike you have the wind to cool you and trees to shade you. That shit is like exercising in a glass jar in the sun.

Maybe I'm missing something, all I did was point and laugh, to be fair, but my point is that it appears to be inferior to all current forms of transportation, including walking quickly.


EDIT: it could be electric (like a monorail) and use on-site wind turbines to power it. Or even better, a hybrid of wind turbines and solar panels.
 
The potential for gridlock is almost worse than any other form of transportation. One person at a time, no manueverability or alternate routes... nothing.

There's not even a grid!
 
Raziaar said:
The potential for gridlock is almost worse than any other form of transportation. One person at a time, no manueverability or alternate routes... nothing.

There's not even a grid!
Click to expand...

Is this living off the grid?
 
ZT said:
What? This would never work as a serious means of urban transportation. Even if it does become implemented in some areas, I cannot see it being used very often.

1. what happens when someone isn't pedaling fast enough and someone else needs to use the capsule?

2. As if Public Transportation wasn't disgusting enough, now I get to ride to work in a compact container filled with the last 5 dudes' Body Odor and sweat. It would be a goddamn disease container during the flu season.

3. What happens when your chain breaks and you sit their lookin' like a goddamn asshole, hanging 200 feet above traffic, and are late to work?
Boss: "Why are you 2 hours late to work?"
You: "lol I was tryin to be environmental and fit so I took da Shweeb"
Boss: " XD "

Shweeb through forests? Yeah, that's what I want when I go to a nature preserves, ****ing Shweeb rails and Shweebers all up in my bears and hawks and shit-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxVtUFZVzk&feature=related
Click to expand...


He says they may be able to go 50mph.

Yea, my car can get to 100 easily, with less effort involved. Good luck getting people to switch!
 
The best part about this would be when people get sick of pedaling, and just get out halfway down the track. Everyone behind them would have to push that container the rest of the way in addition to their own.

This is really just a brilliant system, very well thought out.
 
all ridiculousness aside, i think it still looks pretty fun, but then i used to love going on a monorail when i was a kid. hell, if the merry hill shopping center still had a monorail, i still would love them.
 
I imagine this will be the first and last time I hear of the shweeb. Long live the segway.
 
knut said:
all ridiculousness aside, i think it still looks pretty fun, but then i used to love going on a monorail when i was a kid. hell, if the merry hill shopping center still had a monorail, i still would love them.
Click to expand...

Ahh the good old Merry Hill monorail xD It crashed like twice when I went on it as a kid :D

But yeah, this is a stupid idea. Get a bike!
 
everyone said:
Reasons why this is an awful idea
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This.

Why doesn't Google just enter politics and make public transport a more reasonable option?
 
Half the cities in the US don't even have acceptable bus routes, nor can pay for them. Shweeb isn't going anywhere.
 
I really wanted to like this, until I saw what it was like.
 
The best this thing could hope for is an appearance in roller coaster tycoon 4 or something.

Or if they're like, REALLY lucky, Shweeb Tycoon.

*shudder*
 
I want that bus that runs like a tram, but rises over normal car/truck traffic :O

On a completely unrelated tangent.
 
If I could have my own capsule and never have to deal with other people holding up traffic, i'd be all over this. They should build a Shweeb just for me - everyone else can watch.
 
The idea is not as dumb as you guys are suggesting.. There's many conceptual flaws, but their idea is very clever in some ways.

From their FAQ:

"On firm, flat ground, a 70kg man requires about 100 watts to walk at 5km/h. The power required to move a Shweeb along a rail at 20km/h is only 33 watts. We rest our case!"

So the idea here is actually to reduce the power needed so it's even easier than walking. They're probably using some kind of gearing system.

"Impact-cushioning buffers at each end of the pods allow faster pods to run into slower pods and form a Shweeb ‘peloton’. This increases aerodynamic efficiency and, unlike a bicycle peloton, the power produced by those behind can contribute to the overall power of the group, thereby increasing speed and efficiency and removing the need to overtake. Should the rider in front refuse to pedal, the extra effort required by the rider(s) behind is minimal due to the low rolling resistance and single aero-pressure point of the peloton."

So this resolves the classic "drive faster" dilemma, now you can push the person in front of you to a higher acceptable speed. Both pods become one unit, and their pedal power combines to accelerate. Should someone in front stop, it won't be difficult to push him until he exits. Seems to me they're convinced they can make these pods efficient enough to move with very little force at all.

They're also not planning for this idea to take over main transport systems. Says in their FAQ they want to incorporate the system alongside remaining trains, cars, subways, etc..


Oh, and:

"What about going uphill?

The prototype Shweeb in Rotorua has short ascents of 1:20 which are easily managed when approached at a cruising speed. To make sure all riders get to the top quickly, an electric powered escalator is ready to kick in and lift riders to the top of an incline. The external power will only be activated if sensors indicate that the rider is slowing down."

You don't have to pedal the way up alone. That would be neat, hitting accelerator points on the track perhaps. Kind of like hot wheel tracks, where the roller pushes the car fast enough to make it to the next one.


Says also that their pods are buffered on each end with 600mm shock absorbing pads, so once the pod reaches maximum velocity an impact with another stopped pod will disperse the momentum slowly into forward motion.
 
that sounds pretty cool. someday there'l be shweeb pipelines to everyone's house
 
thefiznut said:
The idea is not as dumb as you guys are suggesting.. There's many conceptual flaws, but their idea is very clever in some ways.

From their FAQ:

"On firm, flat ground, a 70kg man requires about 100 watts to walk at 5km/h. The power required to move a Shweeb along a rail at 20km/h is only 33 watts. We rest our case!"
Click to expand...

Bicycles probably do about that. This seems very very silly.

Luggage? Hygiene? Stopping with a stack of the things behind you?
 
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