A Modern City

Many years ago, I had thought about a modern city that had a well-established robotic infrastructure. The goal was to lower the operational cost of the city and increase convenience without increasing the number of workers. It mainly relied on closed passages underground and autonomous robots. The underground tunnels would be very dense. In order to reduce the amount of digging, the tunnels would be built on the ground level and the streets would be built above that like in Disney’s utilidor system.

All the public transportation would be done using autonomous underground buses. These busses would operate by battery and have Mecanum wheels. Therefore, the tunnels would not have high power supply and rail infrastructure built. This is important for reliability. Complicated infrastructures pose risk to modern cities. They are susceptible to hacking and attacking. Empty tunnels are cheaper to built and easy to operate. There would be some traffic control systems underground. They would be used to accelerate the movement underground. If they don’t function, the autonomous vehicles would continue operating but at a lower speed. Additionally, Mecanum wheels can move sideways closing the gap at the stations. No more “Mind The Gap” announcement. The stations would be just one level below the road level. They would be small and have closed walls and controlled doors between the tunnels and the passenger waiting area. Therefore, the tunnels would be sealed against the humans and the animals. This would reduce the control complexity for the autonomous vehicles.

The autonomous vehicles operating underground would not only carry passengers but also goods and garbage for the city. Every building within the city boundaries would be connected to these tunnels. Therefore, most of the goods transported within the city would be carried underground. This would reduce the traffic on the roads, blockage of sideways due to unloading of trucks and demand for truck drivers. Additionally, the garbage would be collected much frequently with no noise and no pollution on the streets. The garbage cans would be stored underground away from the heat and the sun.

There would be smaller autonomous vehicles operating on special sections within these tunnels. They would be used to transport food and small parcel to individual houses. They would enter the building after a robotic security check. They would move inside the building within a shaft next to the elevators. Therefore, there would be no motorcycle cargo carriers on the streets and less foreigners entering the buildings.