IVHS
Next, in 2007 we realized that all the decades of government funded IVHS (Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems) work yielded a lot of technical papers, a few super successful tests, but nothing really useful for the average commuter. It all worked, it was 99.99% practical, but all the potential manufacturers knew the lawyers were ready to descend in mass with the first inevitable fatality in an IVHS controlled car. This would happen even though in the US humans readily and continually accepted 40,000 highway deaths per year and even if those deaths were projected to drop dramatically to 15,000 per year with full IVHS. Just be glad these leeches weren't around with such power during the Wright brother's era or we never would have gotten past 1 mile flights, let alone to our current thriving Lunar and Mars colonies. Anyway, I'm digressing. Our question was, "Is there anything we could manufacture that would approximate the relaxed driving experience of the IVHS without all the cost and complication?" The MINIMACAR ™
I think it was team members Shawn and Trish Walsh who first started noticing how much room there is under 18 wheeler trucks. We couldn't have IVHS yet, but why should we be burdened with wasting our time focusing 100% on automobile control issues in our daily commute. Sure you could ride buses to trains or subways and catch another bus at the other end and get some relaxation time, but it wasn't personal mobility - you had to do everything on their schedule - not yours. On top of that this "intermodal mass transportation" was never faster than driving and it cost more.Well, it wasn't long after when Bob Kubinski came up with the MINIMACAR idea. Soon the first MINIMACAR was ready. And, boy, did the ever-frazzled commuters take to them. One had to drive his MINIMACAR manually until he found a target truck on the freeway. Then he worked his way to the side of the truck and initiated the docking sequence. It was a simple task to ease the vehicle slowly UNDER the 18-wheeler's trailer. Once centered, the magnetic grappling arm activated and lifted the MINIMACAR up and off the road.
Time to kick back, save fuel and relax, eh gramps!
Dead right, Rory. One's destination GPS coordinate system beeped when it was time to leave the truck and exit (or if the truck started moving toward an exit before you did). It wasn't door-to-door IVHS, but it sold very well and people liked the idea of the extra crash protection barrier when attached to the center of an 80,000-pound truck. Best of all, sales didn't really drop three years later after the truckers protested and insisted on MINIMACAR ID transponders, detection sensors on the trucks and automatic debit of a small toll fee. Besides we anticipated this eventuality and ended up with most of the business for all the extra electronics for the truckers. Great profit item!
Fig. 3. The MINIMACAR. (Artwork courtesy of Steve Crompton, Opus Graphics)
