Mar 24, 2010

ULTra PRT wins the prestigious Viva Shield for transit technology advancement.

ULTra PRT was awarded the Viva Shield, a prestigious UK award, in recognition for transit technology advancement. Previous winners of the award include:

• Sir Christopher Cockerell (Invention of the Hovercraft , 1960)
• Automotive Products Company Limited (Design and development of the Automatic Transmission Gearbox, 1962)
• Sir Freddie Laker for the Skytrain (the world's first daily transatlantic, low-fare air service, charging 1/3 the price of other fares - 32.50 GBP, 1978
• Eurotunnel for the Channel Tunnel, 1994
• British Waterways (The Falkirk Wheel, 2002)
• McLaren Mercedes (Winning the Drivers Championship for 2008).

Martin Lowson, President of ULTra PRT, was presented the award by the The Right Honorable Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Nick Anstee. Martin was the originator of the ULTra concept while Sir George White Professor at the University of Bristol. Previously, he worked in the US on the Apollo Space Program, where he led a team of over 50 staff. Martin became Chief Scientist of Westland Helicopters, where he established and led the Westland Technology Demonstrator program. This generated the advanced rotor system, for which he is a patentee, now used on both Lynx and EH101 helicopters. This rotor was used to set the absolute world speed record for helicopters, held by Westland since 1986.

Commenting on the award, Phil Smith, CEO of ULTra PRT said: "We are delighted that our ULTra system has been recognized as radical new approach to improve transport both in this country and the rest of the world. The concept that we have worked on for many years is now becoming a reality: we will be carrying passengers on the world's first system at Heathrow's Terminal 5 in the near future."

ULTra PRT has designed and developed the ULTra system, a ground breaking form of PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) which addresses the urgent need to revolutionize urban transport. The ULTra system uses a fleet of low power, electrically driven, driverless vehicles on a dedicated guideway network, which is available on demand for passengers. The operation and movement of the vehicles on the network is managed by software and systems developed by ULTra PRT. The system was originally conceived at the University of Bristol, developed at Cardiff (Wales), and will be operational at London Heathrow Airport in the near future.