CarTube
[Image © Wire Collective Ltd]
In December 2016, London-based practice PLP Architecture unveiled their concept design for CarTube.
The concept has been promoted as a ‘pioneering mobility solution’ which combines two existing modes of transport, automated electric cars and mass transit, into a single, seamless underground road system.
[Image © PLP Architecture]
CarTube uses a network of small bore tunnels to integrate existing motorways. A dynamic platoon system controls automated cars which circulate above and below ground, allowing them to move within milliseconds of one another.
Far greater capacity could be provided, in comparison with conventional public transport, by allowing cars to travel in a continuous flow at a steady speed without slowing down.
CarTube also permits direct travel without interchanging, replacing the stop-start model of current transportation with a fluid, integrated network.
[Image © PLP Architecture]
According to PLP’s research, CarTube will typically double transport capacity for the same investment as conventional mass transport and reduce travel time by 75%.
Users will be able to book a CarTube trip through their smartphones using either their own cars or public cars. The CarTube app will calculate a fare and an estimated arrival time based on an optimal route through the network. The whole journey will be point-to-point, without any transfers or stops.
[Image © PLP Architecture]
Lars Hesselgren, Director of Research at PLP, said:
“CarTube is a direct response to mass transit and traffic congestion in the world’s largest cities. Moving high-speed car traffic below ground will revolutionise our concept of the city, allowing our urban spaces to be designed not for cars, but for people. CarTube has the potential to be the next best thing to teleportation and will revolutionise exiting cities and allow for unprecedented urban forms.”
[Image © Wire Collective Ltd]
For more information, see Tired of the commute? It might be time to take cars underground.
Images and content courtesy of PLP Architecture.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Costs and insolvencies mount for SMEs, despite growth
Construction sector under insolvency and wage bill pressure in part linked to National Insurance, says report.
The place for vitrified clay pipes in modern infrastructure
Why vitrified clay pipes are reclaiming their role in built projects.
Research by construction PR consultancy LMC published.
Roles and responsibilities of domestic clients
ACA Safety in Construction guide for domestic clients.
Fire door compliance in UK commercial buildings
Architect and manufacturer gives their low down.
Plumbing and heating for sustainability in new properties
Technical Engineer runs through changes in regulations, innovations in materials, and product systems.
Awareness of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
What CBAM is and what to do about it.
The new towns and strategic environmental assessments
12 locations of the New Towns Taskforce reduced to 7 within the new towns draft programme and open consultation.
Buildings that changed the future of architecture. Book review.
The Sustainability Pathfinder© Handbook
Built environment agency launches free Pathfinder© tool to help businesses progress sustainability strategies.
Government outcome to the late payment consultation, ECA reacts.
IHBC 2025 Gus Astley Student Award winners
Work on the role of hewing in UK historic conservation a win for Jack Parker of Oxford Brookes University.
Future Homes Building Standards and plug-in solar
Parts F and L amendments, the availability of solar panels and industry responses.
How later living housing can help solve the housing crisis
Unlocking homes, unlocking lives.
Preparing safety case reports for HRBs under the BSA
A new practical guide to preparing structural inputs for safety cases and safety case reports published by IStructE.
Male construction workers and prostate cancer
CIOB and Prostate Cancer UK encourage awareness of prostate cancer risks, and what to do about it.
Comments
This will not work because of these reasons, If there is a breakdown inside the tube the breakdown will cause a big traffic jam in the tunnel and it will be difficult to remove the car if needed, this is the same for a car crash.
Also if there is a crash the heat underground will eventually if not helped quick enough, there shall be a possibility of death. I may be wrong about all this but in London a tube broke down a few years back and the heat nearly killed the occupants of the underground train.