On this episode of China Uncensored:
It’s a bus!
It’s a train!
No, it’s...actually,
I’m still trying to figure that out.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host, Chris Chappell.
Chinese state-run media has unveiled this:
A driverless train
that runs on city roads without tracks.
They call it the Autonomous Rapid Rail Transit.
And oh man,
is this going to be one heck
of a Communist Party train.
Just check out this video from Xinhua News!
And yes,
this is the original music.
This train is gonna party non stop.
If you’re still confused about what this
thing is,
state-run CGTN also made a promo video.
I guess they used the elevator music remix.
The train was unveiled in Zhuzhou city
in Hunan province.
In many urban areas in China,
traffic congestion is a major problem.
The train can hold up to 307 passengers,
and can reach top speeds of just over
40 miles per hour.
Which is faster than it will ever need to go
in Zhuzhou’s traffic.
The train is also cheaper to build
than subways or conventional light rails.
So it's a driverless,
environmentally-friendly electric train
that runs on virtual tracks
and can carry hundreds of people.
Ok, that actually sounds pretty good.
But I am pretty confused
by the promotional videos.
Because they seem to say one thing
and show the opposite.
First, they call it a train.
But it drives on roads,
not on tracks.
So, I’m pretty sure that makes it
just a bus.
I mean, yes it will be guided with sensors
along what Xinhua calls a
“virtual track.”
But it’s still driving on a road.
Isn't that a bus?
People’s Daily reports it
“uses rubber wheels on a plastic core
instead of steel wheels.”
Yes, that sounds like a bus.
Second, “It’s also equipped with the company’s
copyrighted technology
to automatically guide the vehicles.”
Well apparently it still needs a driver
and a steering wheel.
So what’s up with that?
Third, it’s environmentally friendly...
because it’s powered by electricity,
but two-thirds of China’s electricity
is generated by coal-fired power plants.
So unless they can guarantee that this electricity
is coming from clean sources—
which they can’t—
it's still going to generate a lot of pollution.
And fourth,
in the Xinhua video it says the individual sections
aren’t physically connected,
but just seconds earlier
it showed them physically connected.
I don't know what's real anymore!
Now this isn’t the first time China has
made headlines
for some revolutionary new public transit system.
You may remember seeing headlines
about this last year,
the Transit Elevated Bus.
And everyone was all like,
wow, the future of transit.
Now, there were the obvious questions left
unanswered,
such as,
will it block street signs?
What happens if you need to make a turn
while that thing is over you?
What if you’re a truck?
But the more important question
everyone should have been asking was—
is this a scam?
Well, spoiler alert:
Yes, it was.
Apparently, the company behind it
raised hundreds of millions of dollars for it,
but only spent about 3 million.
Where did the rest of the money go?
Who knows?!
The Transit Elevated Bus prototype
now sits abandoned.
But the worst insult of all—
as Wired points out—
since it runs on tracks,
it’s a train,
not a bus.
So how about China’s new train-thing?
The coal-powered, environmentally friendly,
human-piloted, autonomous,
rubber-wheel-based train
that doesn’t need a track?
Well, the track will be finished in 2018.
So we'll have to wait and see
if the train that's really a bus
does better than the bus that was really a train.
The good news is that,
according to People's Daily,
once the four-mile-long Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit
is completed,
it will link to the Zhuzhou's maglev train.
Which hasn't been built yet.
So what do you think?
Will this new vehicle be a blunder-bus?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching this episode
of China Uncensored.
Once again, I’m your host, Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
Good news, everyone!
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Hmm, wonder how that got in there.
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What’s that Shelley?
Ok, the powdered rhino horn
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The box was made by Chinese slave labor.
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What do you mean,
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