Sutra
Logistics
Concept
Revitalizing urban Rail Cargo
Rail cargo is critical to small businesses and the economy as a whole, innovation has stalled and loading takes far too long. Sutra’s simple yet clever micro-rail vehicles would slash loading times from hours to seconds and enable fully-automated, space saving handling of pallets and other general cargo units between boxcars, trucks, and warehouses within logistic parks, ports, campuses and urban businesses.
1. goods are unloaded in seconds
2. autonomous self-sorting follows
3. goods can be stored, transferred
or taken to nearby logistics hubs
via the micro-rail network
self-sorting technology
In conventional rail systems, track switches need to be actuated corresponding to the target direction of railway traffic. In addition to the several communication and mechanical systems required to achieve this, using this system requires longer headways between vehicles — this self-switching technology will allow vehicles to follow, switch and sort with less than 1 meter (~3 feet) between them.
prototype self-switching in the desired direction
a fully autonomous system
-vehicles keep distance at the same speed
-fastest route automatically selected
-intelligent vehicle control maximizes vehicle flow
In the Teleport system, vehicles will interact much like cars on a freeway. The driving will be done by an vehicle computer, which will also monitor other vehicles with dozens of onboard sensors, allowing vehicles to actively communicate with each other if there is need to relay critical information, improving the safety and operation of the system for everyone.
Much of the communication and sensing will have built-in redundancies to ensure optimal system operation. If there is a stopped vehicle on the route, inter-vehicle communication and distance sensors will alert the driving system. All vehicles would all stop with little to no delay.
