SkyTran's driverless vehicles are lightweight, aggressively streamlined, and extremely energy-efficient. Inside the vehicle is a simple cabin, two seats with seatbelts, and a small computer. Wide windows give a good view of the surrounding city or countryside, and a climate control system maintains a comfortable temperature. Passengers sit in tandem (one behind the other) in comfortably reclined seats. The reason for the tandem seating is for aerodynamics and efficiency, so the frontal area (and aerodynamic drag) is at a minimum. If the people were seated side-by-side rather than in tandem, the vehicles would be half as efficient. SkyTran's inventor Doug Malewicki used similar principles in the 1980's to build record-setting high-mileage automobiles, setting a Guiness record for a 155 MPG highway-legal gasoline-powered car in 1981 and a 154 MPG diesel record in 1982. 

The fact that the vehicles are driverless is important because it removes human error. Automatically driven vehicles can be coordinated in ways that human-driven vehicles could never be. It also of course frees passengers from worrying about piloting a moving vehicle.

Empty vehicles are 200 pounds and can carry up to 500 pounds inside, making the maximum weight of a loaded vehicle 700 pounds. The vehicles themselves have very few moving parts – the only major moving part is the vehicle itself (minor parts being the door, climate control, emergency brake, and parking wheels). There are no tires, gears, or any other mechanical parts that will continually wear out or need lubrication. In this way, SkyTran is a pure solid state transportation system. SkyTran's vehicles contain thousands fewer parts than modern gasoline-powered cars (which contain about 14,000 parts).

Above the vehicle's cabin, a strong support column connects to the "bogie" trapped inside the guideway. The bogie is the chassis that supports the vehicle - a train's bogie usually has wheels. SkyTran's bogie houses permanent magnets that interact with the guideway to levitate the vehicle. This is explained further in the magnetic levetation section. The bogie also contains parking wheels (used only when the vehicle is traveling below 2 mph) and a mechanical emergency brake. The vehicle is propelled using a linear motor embeded in the guideway - electromagnets in the track that push a vehicle's permenant magnets forward. 

The vehicles are suspended below the guideway, which allows them to bank naturally around turns. Passengers will feel slightly heavier around turns, but will not be jerked sideways. Natural banking also allows the guideway to be lighter and narrower because it doesn't need extreme stiffness to resist the tilting force of vehicles above it. 

Safety is a key feature of the vehicles. Seatbelts in each vehicle prevent injury, but active radar on each vehicle makes sure accidents don't happen in the first place. If the radar does see a problem ahead, it can activate its mechanical brake that works by gripping the inner walls of the guideway. This mechanical brake allows a vehicle to stop much faster than a car can, giving a SkyTran vehicle the ability to avoid any potential crash.

If plans change during a trip, passengers can change their destination by voice or touchscreen command to the onboard computer, or by calling an operator. An emergency button can also be used to call for assistance or for routing the vehicle straight to the nearest police station or hospital. If grid power fails, vehicles would continue to levitate while slowly losing speed and eventually settle down onto their parking wheels. Normally a vehicle's momentum alone could carry it to the nearest station. In cases where the station is too far, the guideway's regenerative braking system will be used to temporarily power these straggling vehicles to a station. In an outtage situation like this, a vehicle's backup battery would provide power for the climate control, active radar, and the emergency brake (if neccessary).