Floating to work. Not of bliss. But with an innovative means of transport that consumes little energy and is also good for the climate. It almost sounds too good to be true, but it’s being worked on!

More than fifteen years ago, Professor Nigel Hussey first toyed with an innovative idea that could radically change the way people move from A to B. He asked himself: can we come up with an alternative to electric vehicles with today’s technologies and materials? From this question, NIFTI (National Individual Floating Transport Infrastructure): a floating module, which is driven by electromagnetic pulses and in which people can move very safely and energy-efficiently. For years it remained an idea. Until 2018. Hussey has now arrived at Radboud University in Nijmegen, where he performs calculations on NIFTI together with an intern. Thanks to an interfaculty grant – provided by Radboud University – the idea gradually develops into a fascinating and multidisciplinary research project that aims to explore the idea of ​​these floating modules in more detail and ultimately bring it to life, either left or right. “It may sound futuristic, but it is becoming more and more reality,” says Britta Driessen, who works at the Knowledge Transfer Office from Radboud University and member of the NIFTI team.

Magnetic Levitation

The transport system that Hussey envisions is completely autonomous and uses magnetic levitation. Simply put, it means using electromagnets to create a magnetic field that lifts and drives the module. Now a means of transport that floats and moves by the grace of magnets is nothing new in itself. In fact, several so-called maglev trains are already driving around in Asia. And the Hyperloop still under development – ​​a kind of train that travels through a near-vacuum tunnel, so that it encounters almost no resistance and can reach extremely high speeds – uses magnetic levitation.

Unique

And yet Hussey’s idea is unique. So unique that Radboud University successfully applied for a patent in 2019. “Where a maglev train is equipped with electromagnetic coils through which current is sent to create a magnetic field, in the case of NIFTI the electromagnetic coils and associated induction motor are not in the module, but in the road surface,” says Driessen. “And current is only sent through the electromagnets when the vehicle actually moves over them.”

The design has a number of important advantages. “Because the engine is in the road surface instead of in the modules, the modules are much lighter.” In concrete terms, the weight of the pods that the researchers envision with NIFTI is about three quarters less than that of an average electric car. “And because current only flows through the electromagnets when the module moves over them, the modules are expected to consume less power than an electric car. NIFTI is also much more energy efficient than, for example, the Hyperloop, where creating a vacuum requires a lot of power.”

Environment

One of the great advantages of researchers creating a whole new mode of transport from scratch is that the idea can be explored from different angles and academic disciplines before it becomes reality. For example, environmental researchers are also involved in NIFTI and they expect that the impact that NIFTI has on the environment is smaller than the impact of electric vehicles. “First of all, of course, because of the relatively limited power consumption. But also when we look at the use of materials. We mainly use aluminum, which is a lot less harmful to the environment than, for example, cobalt and lithium, which are used in the batteries of electric cars, and which are also becoming increasingly scarce.”

Interdisciplinary

It all almost sounds too good to be true. And that’s it for now. Because NIFTI cannot yet be found in the Dutch landscape. But that could just change in the future. “An interdisciplinary research project has been set up together with 13 researchers from both Radboud University and Hogeschool Arnhem-Nijmegen. This project is aimed at finding out whether it is technically, organizationally and economically feasible to actually use the means of transport,” says Driessen. “Within the research project, we explore, for example, where the challenges lie, what still needs to be done to make NIFTI a reality and what the transport system should look like and how it can be integrated into the existing system.” In addition to physicists such as Hussey, the research team also includes scientists with a radically different specialism, such as a sociologist and even a linguist. “Mobility is a complex subject that requires a multidisciplinary approach,” says Driessen. Obvious questions about technological feasibility are important here. But at least as important is the question of whether citizens are willing to travel with NIFTI, and for what reasons. “And a social scientist can do research on that.” In the meantime, a linguist is considering whether it is desirable that the NIFTI module can be controlled by speech in the future. “And if so, how should that speech recognition be optimally developed.”

The broad approach recently provided the NIFTI team with the NWO Team Science Award on. But much more importantly: it ensures that this mobility solution can be further developed step by step. At the same time, however, there are still many unanswered questions. “That’s part of such a radical innovation,” says Driessen. The big question, for example, is whether people are willing to take a seat in such an autonomous module – without steering wheel, brakes or motor. “The question is also whether the regulation of autonomous vehicles will move along. At the moment, legislation and regulations do not yet allow an autonomous vehicle such as NIFTI on public roads. And that is why, for testing and innovating our technology, we are currently also looking at closed or shielded environments, such as distribution centers, where the modules can be used to move goods.”

Prototypes
Several prototypes of the NIFTI module have already been made. “Next year we will work towards a new prototype,” says Driessen. “It will be a miniature version of the Heyendaal shuttle that will travel from Nijmegen Central Station to the Radboud campus. With this prototype, after the necessary simulation work, we now want to look at how it works in practice when the modules have to deal with intersections, roundabouts, bends and interaction with emergency vehicles. In the coming year we also want to test how it goes when several modules are active on the road. The modules will be controlled by one central computer system that communicates with and locates the modules. It is expected that – because all modules are controlled centrally – the transport system will be efficient and safe and, for example, fewer traffic jams will occur and the risk of accidents is smaller than, for example, on the motorway.”

The Netherlands is very suitable

Application of the transport system in the Netherlands may still be a long way off, but it is certainly not impossible. “Especially in our country, we have a lot to do with traffic jams and accumulations, so the system can really make a difference. In addition, the Netherlands is very flat, which is an advantage for this technology, because here – in contrast to a hilly landscape – it costs less energy to move the modules.” Our little country is therefore perfect for NIFTI. But are the Dutch also waiting for it? In any case, Driessen does. “It seems ideal to me. You get in, say where you want to go and then you can read a book or play a game until you arrive at your destination. So the transport system also provides more free time.”


In this video you can see an earlier prototype of NIFTI in action.

No more traffic jams, fewer accidents, more free time, less environmental and climate damage: Hussey’s idea has quite a few advantages. And at the same time it painfully exposes how detrimental the way we move now actually is. It motivates the researchers to continue, at the same time knowing that they will also have to let go of NIFTI at some point. “We can only develop further here at the university and college. At some point, the market will have to take over. And that is why we are already looking for partners who want to work with us. Only in this way can we – literally – scale up and check whether the system is really as efficient, safe and good for the climate as we currently think.” So there is still a lot of work to be done. But the scientists are not afraid of that; they continue, in the hope that their radical innovation will one day float through the Netherlands, well-filled with relaxed commuters.