The fact that Glydways has received three orders within a year, albeit only pilot projects, is a sign that this technology is increasingly gaining mainstream acceptance.

It’s also notable that Glydways’ latest win came in Atlanta, far from its home advantage in Silicon Valley. Atlanta is also one of the busiest airports in the country.

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems have a dubious reputation among transportation experts. However, there is an argument that modern technology overcomes many of the hurdles of earlier concepts that relied heavily on rail systems.

Much of the problems and costs that PRT systems used to cause have now been solved by software. Operating autonomous cars on fixed routes is now a practically trivial undertaking, and the necessary sensors are quickly becoming commodities. Glydways (and its potential competitors) can use a lot of off-the-shelf technology.

Even efficient planning to cope with peaks in demand can be solved relatively easily using software thanks to artificial intelligence.

A similar concept is already in use in the United Arab Emirates; it has been used at Heathrow Airport to replace some buses.

Hemmady’s operating system analogy makes sense to describe how the Glydways network works, but it would make even more sense if Glydways would eventually release this operating system as open source, or at least license the underlying technology.

If Glydways could create standards and enable other companies to collaborate on and improve different aspects of the technology, this would create economies of scale and enable cities to implement new networks even faster.

If the idea takes off, car manufacturers could build vehicles compatible with the Glydways network, increasing capacity while reducing capital costs for cities.