A passenger transport system has a pod adapted to carry passengers or articles and a first attachment interface, a plurality of transport vehicles, each adapted to couple to the passenger pod, a first entry station adapted to load a passenger or articles into the pod, a plurality of exchange points, and a final destination station adapted to unload the passenger or articles from the pod carried by the transport vehicle. The pod with a passenger or articles is loaded at the first entry station travels on transport vehicles between individual ones of the exchange stations, until arriving at the final destination station where the passenger or the articles are unloaded, the passenger or articles remaining in the pod through all exchanges between transport vehicles.

A mobile carrier includes a carrier controller configured to check an amount of charge of a main battery of a vehicle through communication with a vehicle controller, to check an amount of charge of a carrier battery, to compare the amounts of charge of the main battery and the carrier battery when the carrier is installed in the vehicle and to control mutual charging of the main battery and the carrier battery.

A mobility unit may include a driving portion connected to a driveshaft of a vehicle for providing driving force to the vehicle, a rear glass portion provided at a rear portion of the vehicle to be operable to isolate the rear portion of the vehicle, a front connection portion or a rear connection portion provided at the front or at the rear of the vehicle to be fastened to another vehicle, and an integrated controller for controlling the operation of the front connection portion or the rear connection portion depending on the direction in which the vehicle is coupled to another vehicle and controlling the operation of the rear glass portion and the driving portion when the vehicle is coupled to another vehicle.

One embodiment of an unmanned carrier for carrying urban manned vehicles includes a computer, a motorized lift, an autonomous-driving control system, and a safety frame. The computer synchronizes pick-up of manned vehicles by the unmanned carrier; wherein each manned vehicle is an autonomous on-road vehicle that transports one or more occupants in a compartment, is authorized by law to drive in a residential neighborhood, and is unauthorized by law to drive on the highway on its own because it is not safe enough for highway speed. The motorized lift enables the manned vehicles to get on and get off the unmanned carrier without human intervention. The autonomous-driving control system navigates the unmanned carrier autonomously on a highway. And the safety frame protects the occupants who sit in the carried manned vehicles during a collision at highway speed.

A couplable automotive road vehicle includes two front wheels, a chassis having a front part and a rear part, an articulated connection device, and front and rear couplings. A wheel cylinder is defined as the cylindrical geometric shape surrounding the two front wheels when the wheels are not turned. The front part of the chassis includes a chassis beam disposed behind the front wheels, outside the wheel cylinder. The front coupling includes a yaw rigid coupling module mounted on the chassis beam between the two front wheels. The vehicle includes, for each front wheel, a suspension arm mounted on the chassis beam and extending around the wheel cylinder, above same, and a tie rod for controlling the steering device, located above the wheel cylinder.

A method for transporting a person or a parcel from a first location to a second location involves mounting a pod having a rechargeable battery and a compartment to a first vehicle, moving the first vehicle with the pod mounted to a loading position at or near the first location, loading a person or a parcel into the pod, moving the first transporter vehicle from the loading position to a first exchange point, exchanging the passenger pod from the first transporter vehicle to a second transporter vehicle at the first exchange point by de-mounting the pod from the first transporter vehicle and mounting the pod to the second transporter vehicle by a compatible physical interface between the pod and the second transporter vehicle, and transporting the second transporter vehicle with the pod to the second location.

A transportation network system for providing a transportation using a modular vehicle is provided. According to one or more aspects, the transportation network system for providing a modular vehicle is provided. The modular vehicle includes a parent vehicle and one or more child vehicles. The transportation network system comprises a connection module, a logistical module, and a charging module. The connection module identifies a proximate vehicle and provides the proximate vehicle connection instructions to connect the proximate vehicle to the modular vehicle as a child vehicle. The logistical module provides services to the child vehicle. The charging module manages a charging source. The charging module initiates a charge to the child vehicle from the parent vehicle.

A control device, a vehicle, a vehicle combination, and a method, the control device being designed to provide a first control signal for the approach of the vehicle to a further vehicle in a first portion of a travel route of the vehicle, the control device being designed to provide a second control signal for the coupling of the vehicle to the further vehicle in the first portion of the travel route, in order to provide a passage between the vehicle and the further vehicle, via which a person may change over between the vehicle and the further vehicle.

A combinable and detachable vehicle includes: a front connecting portion and a rear connecting portion provided at a front portion and a rear portion of a vehicle, respectively, and connected to another vehicle when the vehicle is combined with the other vehicle; a front monitoring portion and a rear monitoring portion monitoring a forward area and a rearward area of the vehicle, respectively; and a controller determining whether the other vehicle is connected to the front connecting portion or the rear connecting portion of the vehicle based on information received from the front connecting portion or the rear connecting portion, or the front monitoring portion or the rear monitoring portion, and controlling whether to operate each of a front component and a rear component of the vehicle depending on a direction of the vehicle is connected to the other vehicle.

A coupling device includes a hitch yoke secured to a first road vehicle, and a drawbar secured to a second road vehicle. The coupling device also includes roll travel device in the drawbar for the roll travel of one vehicle relative to the other and a yaw travel device in the drawbar for the yaw travel of one vehicle relative to the other. It further includes a first pitch travel device provided such that it is secured to the hitch yoke for the pitch travel of the first road vehicle relative to the hitch yoke and a second pitch travel device in the drawbar for the pitch travel of the second road vehicle relative to the distal end of the drawbar, said second pitch travel device being separate from the first one.