All Aboard the “Mag-lev Limo”

ET3’s tube transportation concept aims to travel from New York to Beijing in two hours.

Buckle up folks—sci-fi transportation is just around the corner, and I’m not just talking about self-driving cars.

Beyond the autonomous vehicles, flying cars, and the crazy Hyperloop capsule transportation methods in R&D, yet another tube transport company has technology under way that it claims will transform international travel, according to an article on Futurism.com.

The company, ET3 is talking up something it dubs a “mag-lev limo,” essentially a car-sized vehicle that operates in a network of tubes akin to cars traveling on a freeway, the Futurism.com article explained. The freeway tube network can be accessed at various points, and the company’s stated goal—radical to say the least—is being able to “travel, for example, from Cincinnati to the Taj Mahal in under three hours for $50,” its CEO Daryl Oster was quoted as saying.

ET3 is still squarely in the concept stage (no surprise here), but similar futuristic transport systems like Hyperloop are further along, with testing to actually start this year.

Pretty soon Star Trek’s famous line, “Beam me up, Scotty,” won’t be so far fetched.

About the Author

Beth Stackpole, contributing writer | Contributing Editor, Automation World

Beth Stackpole is a veteran journalist covering the intersection of business and technology, from the early days of personal computing to the modern era of digital transformation. As a contributing editor to Automation World, Beth's coverage traverses a range of industries and technologies, including AI/machine learning, analytics, automation hardware and software, cloud, security, edge computing, and supply chain. In addition to her high-tech and business journalism work, Beth writes an array of custom editorial content and thought leadership pieces.

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