Delegates from Brazil have once again visited the String Technologies Testing Centre in Sharjah. The group that time included the Mayors of 15 cities as well as directors and top managers of construction and consultancy companies of the country.
During the tour of the Centre, the guests were in the dispatch office, where they saw the software and hardware that helps control the operation of the vehicles on the tracks. To test the reliability of the technology in practice, the delegates took a test drive on the certified tropical Unicar.
A separate part of the tour was dedicated to the safety of the technology. For example, the guests were told about towing and evacuation systems. The delegates also got to know about the artificial intelligence subsystems of the transport: machine vision, positioning, route guidance, threat detection and data exchange between the models.
The guests were also asking questions about how vehicles are prevented from going off the rails. According to the words of the representatives of the Centre, the vehicles are equipped with additional wheels, which make the movement on the track more stable.
Among other advantages of the string transport, there are low construction costs, high environmental friendliness, passenger comfort, energy efficiency, low material consumption, speeds of up to 150 km/h in the city and the ability to implement this transport in the existing infrastructure.
An additional stop on the tour was the demonstration pavilion featuring a high-speed string vehicle. As a reminder: this model can reach speeds of up to 500 km/h and exceeds the aerodynamic performance of the Bugatti Veyron sports car.
The delegates also visited the office of the company that is developing the string transport in the Middle East. It is in this building that a mock-up of a linear city with five types of string tracks in operation is on display.
It should be noted that some of the delegation participants have been familiar with the project for several years. For example, Silvio Barros, a civil engineer, sustainability consultant and former Mayor of Maringa; and Rodrigo Salvadori, a businessman from Campo Mourão, got to know about the technology back in 2018. Since then, both delegates have continued to follow the development of the project.
Silvio Barros and Rodrigo Salvadori with Anatoli Unitsky in Minsk, 2018.
At this year's meeting, the representatives of the Testing Centre held talks with Mr Alan Guedes, Mayor of Dourados, and discussed the project of the track that could connect the municipalities of Dourados and Maracaju with the ports in Paraná.
Mr Alan Guedes commented on the meeting:
«It was a pleasure to come here and find out that the company representatives know about our industrial calling and the potential for future projects. They are very familiar with the route of the railway, the bio-ocean route, as well as the production capacity of Dourados and the southern region».
As well as other distinguished guests, the delegation participants from Brazil were presented with Anatoli Unitsky's autobiography «Engineer» about the development of the original string transport concept.
After the tour, the delegates expressed their hope for further cooperation on the development of the string transport in Brazilian cities, and the project representatives confirmed their willingness to work together in this direction.
By the way, this is the fourth Brazilian delegation in recent times. Previously, the Testing Centre in Sharjah was visited by the first Brazilian astronaut and currently Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Brazilian government; by delegates of the International Transport Mission in the UAE; and also by representatives of the Brazilian business community.