New Hover Car for Tel Aviv

Published Date: 26th Jun 2014

Companies behind a new trial in Tel Aviv hope that this elevated hover car will change the way we get around in the future

Visitors to Tel Aviv may one day be able to avoid the city’s traffic in a novel way – by travelling in a network of hover cars suspended above the ground.

According to a BBC report, a 500m loop for two-man “jet-like” vehicles will shortly be built on the grounds of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Described as a “high-speed, energy-efficient, transportation system”, the network has been patented by skyTran, a California-based company.

Its aims to “revolutionise public transportation and, with it, urban and suburban commuting.”

Using Magnetic Levitation technology, the system will be tested and refined on the IAI campus – the most substantial trial to date. It is due to be up and running by the end of next year, the BBC reported.

The hover cars in the trial will travel up to 43 miles per hour, although they are capable of much higher speeds.

If the Tel Aviv prototype succeeds, the two companies say they expect the network would be implemented on a strict commercial only basis in the city.

Once put in place, the system will allow locals and visitors to order a vehicle to a station by smartphone then head to their destination.

Jerry Sanders of skyTran explained the Tel Aviv project as “a breakthrough”