The present sorry state of traffic patterns prompted inventor Douglas Malewicki of Irvine, CA, to reach for the next level in personal transportation. With his futuristic, electric-powered SkyTran, Malewicki melds state-of-the-art automation and magnetic levitation in a suspended, two-passenger vehicle system that can travel a whopping 100 miles per hour.

"Automobiles were the perfect solution for moving people around," says Malewicki, whose previous inventions include the award-winning, energy-efficient California Commuter diesel and gas vehicles. "But now there are too many cars," says the designer, who is also credited with inventing a "car-nivorous" 40-foot-tall mechanical behemoth that grinds full-size cars in its jaws at monster-truck shows. "It costs too much to build the infrastructure of roads, and so many resources are required just to move a single person around."

With the SkyTran, commuters would enter a "portal" station placed every mile or so, board a classy, two-person pod and blast off along an aerial guideway to the destination portal of their choice. According to Malewicki, a single SkyTran lane could move as many people per hour as a three-lane freeway-and look more elegant to boot. "SkyTran will be futuristic," he says. "It'll have style."

According to Jerry Schneider, a professor of civil engineering and planning at Seattle's University of Washington, "Personal rapid transit would offer an on-demand, nonstop, safe and quick way of getting around that would have minimal-if any-negative environmental impact. And the view would be great."