http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/heres_bmws_plan_for_a_selfdriving_mini_cooper_submarine_fleet_on_the_la_river.php
By Adrian Glick Kudler, November 14, 2013
The LA River, stretching through the Valley, Downtown, and down the
length of the basin all the way to Long Beach, would be such an awesome
option for commuting, if only it had water and self-driving personal
submarines in it. BMW is on it. (Well, they're on thinking about it, and
drawing it.) For the Los Angeles Auto Show's Design Challenge this
year, their DesignworksUSA team presented
an idea for
Mini Cooper-branded pods that would travel along a
flooded LA River
channel (flooding, they say, would also help replenish LA's groundwater
supplies and prevent stormwater runoff). The pods would be powered by
hydrogen fuel from "a chemical reaction created when salt and fresh
water mix in the presence of of certain bacteria,"
according to Gizmodo,
which talked to the designers behind the project; the water flowing in
and out as part of that process would also propel the little guys, and
little robots would take care of algae. And while we're dreaming, the
team imagines the fleet expanding into a restored Venice canal system
and unburied creeks. Definitely something for the Army Corps of
Engineers to look out once they're done with
that massive LA River restoration plan.
