back to article Russia's answer to Buckminster Fuller has a buttload of CGI and he's not afraid to use it

Earlier this week, Mashable, a clickbait site for millennials, showcased a novel urban transport system. It got very excited, calling it "dope" and the "future of transportation". The "gyroscopic" transport concept involves giant pods precariously balanced at treetop height that rumble along little-used median strips – the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Why do those pictures...

    Somehow remind me of some kind of alien invasion ?

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: Why do those pictures...

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gernsback_Continuum

    2. NoneSuch Silver badge
      Coat

      Those beds...

      There are certain positions people get into while in bed (SFW) where a metal roof slamming down might cause serious injury.

  2. Mage Silver badge

    Motorway median

    Sadly the middle pillar of every motorway bridge blocks them here. Also adding extra lanes or cash saving means some newer ones have wire cable dividers (AKA Cheese Cutters). Don't some places in USA use a concrete wall divider.

    Maybe (like Musk?) is an SF fan and found he has a talent for CAD and CGI but not so much for writing. I think Musk pays other people to make the pictures.

    1. Steve K

      Re: Motorway median

      The motorway bridge blocks them too, not just the pillar

      1. Captain DaFt

        Re: Motorway median

        The motorway bridge blocks them too, not just the pillar

        Not to mention power lines, Traffic lights, traffic islands, pedestrians, and festival banners.

        Plus, how does this contraption handle intersections?

        Stop and wobble? Barrel through with horn blazing?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Motorway median

      And what about crossing a bridge? You either have one span for all lanes that has no 'median', or two spans with empty space in the middle. How does this thing get across bridges? Not all bridges are made the same way, some would not allow something of that height to pass because of the structure above the road.

      You'd have to design a whole city with this in mind. While that's something China could do if they ever fill up the existing ghost cities, it isn't applicable to the rest of the world.

    3. Orv Silver badge

      Re: Motorway median

      Concrete dividers ("Jersey barriers") are pretty common on freeways, temporarily in construction zones and permanently in places where there's no room for a proper central median. Most states are also installing wire cable barriers in the medians of freeways -- done properly they've been shown to greatly reduce head-on crashes, by catching and redirecting cars that are crossing over the median.

    4. Tom 64
      WTF?

      Re: Motorway median

      Also I thought there was a reason for the gap between lanes. It's to stop moving metal objects from colliding with unpleasant consequences.

      I can't imagine what will happen when you fill a gap between moving metal objects with more moving metal objects.

      1. The First Dave

        Re: Motorway median

        I thought that was already reserved for motorbikes??

    5. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Re: Motorway median

      FWIW, this whole BS sci-fi fantasy concept has been throughly debunked elsewhere...

      Including: Bridges, taller vehicles, vehicles crossing the "monorail/lanes", accidents, weight loading on the monorail/lane, power supply for the vehicle, failure modes when power fails, boarding and disembarking and that's before anything malicious is involved.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks great until someone is sat between traffic on a moped.

  4. Justicesays
    WTF?

    The picture that states "Making use of the roads unused median"

    Has two examples of cars in that "unused" space, the brown car in the top right, and the silver car in the bottom right.

    People occasionally do need to change lanes, join/leave roundabouts , go across junctions etc.

    And I'm sure they would prefer to do that without having to worry about smacking into some mobile pillars.

    Or being crushed after a failure of whatever active stabilization these things are using.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The picture that states "Making use of the roads unused median"

      That would be large, very-high-speed flywheels. In case of accident you better hope they are contained somehow.

  5. DNTP

    Search for this guy's drone tank/aircraft CGI's

    This guy's military engineering has a reputation for being highly separated from reality.

  6. iron Silver badge

    "If you think we've come to mock, we haven't."

    Really? You should.

    The second and third pictures in the article look suspiciously like the recent elevated bus scam from China: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/07/china-elevated-bus-scam/

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Straddling bus

    The Chinese version was actually built:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-36961433

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: Straddling bus

      A shoddy prototype was constructed, but the TEB was a scam.

    2. John Mangan

      Re: Straddling bus

      So they don't have trucks in China?

  8. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    those earthquake beds

    are a good argument for bondage.

  9. jake Silver badge

    "Dope" meaning "a stupid and annoying (thing)", right?

    As in "Dahir Semenov is a real dope, isn't he?"

  10. steelpillow Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Emptier

    What a travesty to compare this fantasy artist with Bucky Fuller. Bucky Emptier, more like it.

    Come on, El Reg, it's not even Friday.

    1. Steve K

      Re: Emptier

      Agreed - more like Buckfast Wine - he must have had a few before coming up with this...

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Emptier

        And also:

        > This is not any less credible than Elon Musk's now weekly bids for research cash

        Really? The people actually putting up money might beg to differ.

  11. fobobob

    Weight

    How much is this thing supposed to weigh? Bearing that much load on a tiny patch of concrete seems like a bad idea.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Weight

      Rails.

      Not that I'm supporting this concept. The guy reminds me of a 3D Studio Max fanatic I knew on a course years ago.

      That said, the whole point of concepts is to be presented and then either knocked down or picked up. If this bloke's role in life is to generate lots of ideas for others to filter, then fair enough.

  12. Suricou Raven

    The beds have a flaw

    All very well if you sleep in the designated position. But people don't. They sleep crosswise, with arms or legs hanging over the edge, curled up in a ball, or sprawled with limbs as far apart as possible on a hot night.

    That thing will take someone's head off!

    1. Steve Aubrey

      Re: The beds have a flaw

      . . . hastening the introduction of BunkerBed 2.0!!

      C'mon - somebody has to be the guinea pig.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The beds have a flaw

      If someone is that worried about earthquakes, why not just put the bed under a strong cage that has open sides? It's only the top that really matters, and that way there's no moving parts to fail or mangle the sleeper. It will be stronger and cheaper too.

      The real problem tho is what happens when you're NOT on the bottom floor. In that case you may survive being crushed only to find yourself entombed in a big pile of burning rubble.

      In most earthquake zones these issues are addressed by one-storey buildings with flexible construction (no bricks please). In Los Angeles there are very few deaths due to quakes because the houses just don't collapse easily, being almost 100% stick built.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: The beds have a flaw

        The biggest flaw is that nobody who lives in earthquake country is all that worried about earthquakes. They are certainly not stressed out enough to spend ten or tens of thousands of dollars on a bed.The few who are that stressed out ... move.

        As a side note, I live in earthquake country. The Rogers Creek Fault almost but not quite crosses this property. It'll probably produce a 7.5 or so sometime in the next couple decades.Because of this, I have EQ preparedness kit ready for everyone who lives here, including the livestock. We should be good for a couple months, if needs be[0]. However, in all that kit there isn't a single gas mask No need for one. Dust masks, yes. But not gas masks. What exactly is Buckminski expecting? And how the fuck does he expect anybody to quickly access a fire extinguisher buried in a metal box?

        [0] Not paranoid, pragmatic. When, not if.

      2. Suricou Raven

        Re: The beds have a flaw

        The video does show the beds include an air tank and water. If there's a chemical CO2 scrubber under there as well, perhaps that's the plan - just keep the entombed customer alive for a day or so while the rescue services dig their way down. I'd hope there's a signalling device in there beyond just banging on the lid

  13. James O'Shea

    obviously fake pix even for CGI

    It can't be Russia, there's no Ladas in sight in any of those pix.

    I used to drive a Lada, once, long ago; the Communist Italian imitation Fiat lacked acceleration, couldn't climb hills, had a top speed of around 80 MPH downhill with a tailwind, and (shockingly for a Russian, sorry, Soviet, vehicle) didn't have a heater. Or air conditioning. He was, however, indestructible. I miss him. I once was in a collision with a Toyota; the Japanese tin needed a new front end, Captain Scarlet's superior Soviet Steel construction meant that he had a slightly bent bumper. There'll be Ladas still on Russia roads for decades. No Ladas in those pix. That ain't Russia.

    1. Orv Silver badge

      Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

      I'm guessing the 3D rendering package they used didn't have any Ladas in its collection of stock models.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

      "the Communist Italian imitation Fiat lacked acceleration, couldn't climb hills, had a top speed of around 80 MPH downhill with a tailwind, and (shockingly for a Russian, sorry, Soviet, vehicle) didn't have a heater."

      Exactly like the Fiat original, in fact.

      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

        Exactly like the Fiat original, in fact.

        But probably much, much less liable to fall apart due to rust at the first touch of rain..

        1. annodomini2

          Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

          "Exactly like the Fiat original, in fact.

          But probably much, much less liable to fall apart due to rust at the first touch of rain.."

          The Lada's are made from thicker steel.

    3. Chris G

      Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

      Have a look on youtube for 'Stop a douchebag' videos, not many Ladas in those, mostly better cars than I see daily in Ibiza.

      This Dahir guy is just an ideas man who can make CGIs to illustrate them, his building idea is not bad but there are no worthwhile details on his site to indicate anything meaningful to an architect or a civil engineer, particularly as he talks of the systembeing able to go to 50 stories. What is in the videos will not do that.

    4. Long John Brass

      Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

      Bah,

      I see your communist Fiat and raise you a Triumph 2000; All the power of a wheezing asthmatic 80 a day smoker and the handling of a drunk battleship,

      but built like a ... a ... umm ... battleship :)

      Is it weird I actually miss that car?

    5. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: obviously fake pix even for CGI

      (shockingly for a Russian, sorry, Soviet, vehicle) didn't have a heater. Or air conditioning

      Sounds like a Morris Minor. Which is *supposed* to have a heater but the temperature differential from ambient is pretty hard to detect..

      And I'm reliably informed that it does have air conditioning. Apparently, it's called "a window".

  14. Orv Silver badge

    I was so disappointed when YouTube pulled down all the Retspurae videos that riffed on these. Their one about the earthquake bed (they called it a "hell bed") was particularly great. "This has all my nightmares! Look, there's the one with that thing!"

    The full ridiculousness of Dahir cannot really be understood until you've seen the giant quadcopters, though.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  15. Mark 85

    A pity really...

    We need more visionaries like Bucky with his sense of reality and practicality. This guy.. is a dreamer but with no sense of reality or practicality. Or maybe he's just a scammer with dreams?

    BTW, one thing noted... there's no power/phone lines or poles in his world. In the real world, they're all over the place.

  16. Pirate Dave Silver badge
    Pirate

    Earthquake beds

    "A couple of years ago he made the papers when he devised an anti-earthquake bed that rapidly folds up into a metal box."

    His English must not be too good - the rest of us would refer to those "metal boxes" as coffins.

  17. PhilipN Silver badge

    Russia - could happen?

    I am all in favour of what used to be called lateral thinking (now thinking outside some box or other) and originally "mad Victorian inventor" as a general motivating force but this could happen because the central priority lane is for commissars riding in ZIL's, yes?

    Or does that no longer happen in the New Russia? Oligarchs in Mercedes then?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where can i obtain

    the pharmaceuticals he's quite clearly on ?

    Madasabadgerinoid?

    Methlyoffhisrockerphene?

    Loonaine?

    This commentard DEMANDS to know.

  19. tony2heads

    balance on the median

    That makes no sense at all.

    What you should go for would be a personal ekranoplan

  20. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

    From Russia?

    It's been a while since I was on the roads in Russia, but I recall there wasn't much of it that wasn't in use: median strips, grass verge, you name it - they were all covered in cars. Some of them were still smouldering.

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