The AutoTram, a streetcar plus a bus powered by electricity

A few years into the future, envision a tram coming to stop in front of you and its doors swinging open to welcome you into its swanky insides, taking you home from a long day at work, without emitting those dreadful fumes and carbon into our atmosphere. Sounds like a day-dream, doesn’t it? It might just not be a dream and a lot more of a reality, if things go as planned and the Fraunhofer System Research on Electric-Powered Mobility comes up with something like this soon. The AutoTram is a vehicle currently under research that is designed to be as long as a streetcar and as agile as a bus, without the need for rails or overhead wiresand powered completely by electricity. Instead, it follows a white line on the road. That could mean a cleaner and greener way to commute, without punching out our environment and causing all that harm we do while we travel today.

The research is being carried on by a research cooperative involving 33 Fraunhofer institutes and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding this project with a total of EUR 44 million. Hopefully, the AutoTram® does show up in our urban areas soon.
[Physorg]