You know those old postcards showing mountain cable cars (how memorable!) with the cabins patiently following their pre-established path, one after the other? Forget them. The new urban cable car that is about to revolutionize city transportation is something completely different: it moves freely on a modular network of elevated cables and rails, autonomously chooses the best route and is highly energy efficient. whoosh, this is the name of the intelligent transport system with cable car, which could forever transform the way we move around our cities.
The cable car that redefines urban transport
Whoosh is a very intriguing development in the field of urban mobility. Unlike a traditional gondola lift, this is a system of autonomous pods with their own engines and navigation systems that allow them to move freely through a complex and modular network. The real innovation It's in the ability to switch from one cable to another., allowing direct routes from one point in the city to another.
The smallest stations occupy the space of a single car park, with a spiral that rises to the operating height of the network, about 12 metres above ground. The “tracks” are a combination of tensioned cables that extend 150-300 metres in length, and shorter sections of steel rail for smooth curves and intersections.
We don't have to adapt to the existing road network. We can cross rivers, bridges, highways. We can have a network that runs along the roofs of buildings.
Chris Allington, founder and CEO of Whoosh
An efficient response to mobility challenges
The expected average speed on the “cableway 2.0” is 40 kilometers per hour, but without intermediate stops. According to Chris Allington, founder and CEO of Whoosh, this makes it much faster than driving in congested urban areas. Energy efficiency is astonishing: a standard trip in the Whoosh system uses less energy than a small electric car.
The pods are equipped with batteries under the floor that power air conditioning, Wi-Fi and comfort systems, as well as providing torque to the drive wheels. The system optimises the routes of all vehicles in the network and, as mentioned, each pod can switch between different route options at intersections. Even the rolling resistance of the small wheels is minimal compared to road tyres (reducing wear and pollution, a factor of no small importance).
A new urban travel experience
Comfort was a priority in the development. The pods can lean into curves like a motorcycle, aligning the G-forces with the passenger’s body. Advanced control algorithms dampen and control the oscillation when exiting curves. The ride on the cables offers a unique “floating” sensation. Overall, the entire user experience is designed to be similar to that of a ride-sharing service: through an app, you can reserve a vehicle or drive to the nearest station and grab an available one.
Each smart cabin in the cable car recognizes the user and adjusts the temperature, lighting and music according to personal preferences.
Our vision is: people don't want to wait for the bus, they want the bus to wait for them.
Chris Allington, founder and CEO of Whoosh
From entertainment to urban transport
The system (we would have all said it, I swear) was born as an attraction for amusement parks. And in that context it tested and perfected the technology. The first prototype, called switchback, was installed as “The Flying Ox”, an attraction at LumberJack Feud, a theme park in Tennessee, America. This phase allowed us to validate two crucial functions: the transition between rails and cables and the special braking system eddy currents.
The flexibility of the system allows for various applications: in a zoo, for example, it can serve as a quiet scenic ride or an adrenaline-pumping experience, depending on the needs. This versatility has allowed us to collect valuable data on performance, capacity, and battery systems.
Cableway of the future: technical details and safety
The cabins were designed to reach speeds of over 70 kilometres per hour, but as explained Allington, lower speeds allow for greater traffic through the network. The pods’ switching wheels allow for track changes at intersections, with a fail-safe system that keeps the route straight in the event of a failure.
The project was born from Holmes Solutions, that Allington describes it as “an external R&D department for some of the world's largest companies.” The idea has caught the attention of Google, which was looking for a better way to transport employees across its sprawling campuses. Although the original project was halted due to COVID, some Google team members founded the startup Swyft Cities to market the idea as an urban transportation solution.
The future is closer than we think
The first Whoosh system for urban transport will be inaugurated in 2026 in the Remarkables Park precinct of Queenstown, New Zealand. The city, surrounded by mountains and a lake, provides the ideal testing ground: high tourist presence, significant local population and limited road network with traffic problems. The pilot gondola, fully funded by private individuals, will demonstrate all key features including network merge and divergence points, multiple stations in both spiral and straight configurations and an exhibition space.
The cost of the infrastructure is around 5 million euros per kilometre, much less than the 10-20 million for the streets or to 100 million for the light metro. The system is completely modular and can be easily expanded by adding vehicles, cable runs and rails, without having to forecast demand for the next 40 years as is the case with roads or railways. It’s not just for passengers: similarly sized freight vehicles can create efficient freight connections between any point on the network, seamlessly integrating with passenger pods in the autonomous, lower-priority routing system to ensure seamless service to passengers as network volumes increase.
In the meantime, I think back to that old mountain cable car that I took in Camigliatello, in Sila, as a child. Back then, I couldn't even imagine that one day that century-old technology could transform into something so innovative. Sometimes the future isn't in inventing something completely new, but in looking with different eyes at what we have always taken for granted, and still being amazed.