Pods will push cars off the road

Masdar's electric pod, which will replace cars in the carbon-neutral city, made its debut at last year's summit.

Nearly every mode of transport, be it on land, sea or in the air, burns fossil fuels which in turn release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Transport is responsible for about 20 per cent of global manmade greenhouse gases, with road transport - cars, lorries and buses - accounting for about three quarters of the total. While many other sectors have been able to limit their emissions, the transport industry has continued to grow, fuelled by a global demand for cheap goods from other countries and a love affair with gas-guzzling cars.

At Masdar's carbon-neutral city, residents and visitors alike will be asked to park their conventional vehicles at the perimeter and take one of 2,000 battery-operated "pods", also known as a personal rapid transport automotives. Each small pod will have space for four adults and two children and will travel at about 40kph on a grid-like network about six metres under ground - streets in Masdar City will be raised, with buildings starting on the same level as the transport system.

The pods will be computerised so that passengers can simply tap in the name of the station to which they wish to travel, and then sit back and enjoy the ride. At first, the system will be quite simple, with only a few pre-programmed stations, but as it reaches maturity designers say that those living and working in Masdar will never be more than 100 metres from a pod station. Passengers will access the stations by a flight of stairs - saving the energy normally expended on escalators - and will probably have to wait no more than about three minutes for a pod; the longest journey will take between seven to 10 minutes.

The driverless pods are programmed to detect other vehicles and pedestrians and will stop if they sense something in their path. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past, as the system will be able to detect how many pods are out at any one time. If there are too many, the network will simply stop allowing new pods to leave the station. The pods are being manufactured in Dubai in a joint venture between a UAE firm and the Dutch company that designed and built the prototype.

There will also be a light rail line snaking through Masdar that is expected to connect the city to Abu Dhabi's international airport.