From August 11th through August 13th, two ULTra vehicles were exhibited at London's Science Museum. This was part of the Science Museum's centenary exhibit, "The Making of the Modern World," which featured icons of technological innovation that changed the world. ULTra was selected as an example of a technological innovation that could shape the future, in much the same way that the "Stephenson's Rocket" steam locomotive — one of the ten featured historical "icons" — shaped the past.
Professor Martin Lowson, founder of Advanced Transport Systems, at the Science Museum's ULTra exhibit
During the three days of the exhibit, thousands of museum visitors stopped by to experience the ULTra vehicles and ask questions of the ATS researchers and engineers who were on duty.
Visitors queue to tour an ULTra vehicle
Many visitors expressed surprise at how comfortable and spacious the vehicle interiors were, and even greater surprise that this is not a far-future technology, but is already under operational testing at Heathrow, and will be opening to the public towards the end of the year.
Room for the whole family
The event also generated much favorable press coverage for ULTra. A selection of the articles which were published can be found below.
- BBC : Driverless airport pods unveiled
- Daily Mail : Taxi of tomorrow: The space-age pods with no driver, no fumes... just a 'start' button
- Daily Mirror : Futuristic Heathrow taxis could replace buses and cars in cities
- Daily Telegraph : Driverless cars gives glimpse of transport of the future at Heathrow Airport
- TG Daily : Driverless cars pull up at airport
- The Times : Driverless cars with bug-eyed windows, arriving soon at Heathrow
- Transport Briefing : ULTra joins Rocket at Science Museum showcase
- Silicon.com : Photos: Driverless pod cars offer a glimpse of the future of transport
