An exchange station has openings for drones, a passenger check-in/check-out bay for processing passengers, a drone connect/release bay, having apparatus adapted to manage passenger pods mounted on smart chassis, and a computerized control system in wireless communication with control circuitry in the drones and smart chassis, guiding smart chassis with mounted passenger pods and drones, to make the exchange of pods from the smart chassis to drones. A passenger entering the passenger check-in bay is loaded into a pod mounted on a smart chassis, the pod with passenger is transported to the drone-connect/release bay, and the pod is there joined to a bare drone and disconnected from the smart chassis, the drone leaving with the passenger pod to a destination, and the smart chassis traveling away from the drone connect-release bay.

A vehicle for transporting passengers. The vehicle comprises a chassis including a front axle, a rear axle, and a frame that includes a front section that supports the front axle and a rear section that supports the rear axle. The vehicle further comprises a drop frame insert located between the front section of the frame and the rear section of the frame. A top surface of the drop frame insert is positioned lower than a top surface of the frame, and at least a portion of a bottom surface of the drop frame insert is generally coplanar with a bottom surface of the frame.

A passenger compartment of the modular vehicle, such as a bus, includes a roof panel and sandwich-type side panels coupled to structural joiners to form the passenger compartment. The side panels and the joiners may include pultruded beams for increased structural integrity. A chassis of the vehicle has channels integrated therein for coupling of the side panels and passenger compartment to the chassis. This coupling to the chassis channel may also include the use of a bonding agent.

A low floor road vehicle, in the form for example of a passenger bus, includes a front module that includes the front load-carrying axle at its front, a rear module including the rear load-carrying axle, a central module having a flat floor and lateral side walls that longitudinally extend beyond both longitudinal ends of the flat floor so as to define front and back module attaching portions, and a roof mounted to both lateral side walls so as to extend beyond the floor both towards the front and back, which brings rigidity to the overall structure. The vehicle being modular, the central module can be configured to a specific application, for example by varying the length thereof, while same configurations of the front and rear modules can be used in all applications. Also, the front axle being located at the front of the front module, the access to the passenger area defined by the flat floor is improved.

A transport system has a first set of substantially parallel rails supported above ground level by support structures, a trolley having wheels mounted to a frame with the wheels engaging the rails, at least one wheel powered to move the trolley along the set of rails, a portion of the frame depending between the rails to a level below the rails, and a downward-facing latching interface on the depending portion of the frame, and a pod enabled to carry a passenger or parcels, or both, engaged by an upward-facing latching interface to the downward-facing latching interface of the trolley, such that, as the trolley travels along the rail set, the pod is carried along below the rail set.

A transport system has a wheeled, steerable, self-powered, self-navigating carrier vehicle, having a substantially planar support frame, an on-board, rechargeable, battery-based power system, control circuitry, including GPS circuitry, on-board the carrier vehicle, adapted to drive and steer the carrier vehicle, and an upward-facing carrier interface adapted to the support frame, the carrier interface having first physical engagement elements, and a passenger pod adapted to carry both packages and persons, the passenger pod having a structural framework, a rechargeable, battery-based power system, and a downward-facing pod interface adapted to the structural framework, the carrier interface having second physical engagement elements. The passenger pod, placed upon the carrier vehicle, engages the downward-facing pod interface to the upward-facing carrier interface by the first and second physical engagement elements.

A vehicle for delivering packages, comprising a tractor comprising a motor, a pair of front wheels, a rear wheel, and a rail between the pair of front wheels and the rear wheel, and a removable container comprising a space for storing packages where a bottom of the container is configured to fit over and mount to the rail.

A passenger compartment of the modular vehicle, such as a bus, includes a roof panel and sandwich-type side panels coupled to structural joiners to form the passenger compartment. The side panels and the joiners may include pultruded beams for increased structural integrity. A chassis of the vehicle has channels integrated therein for coupling of the side panels and passenger compartment to the chassis. This coupling to the chassis channel may also include the use of a bonding agent.

A side structure of a bus includes a skirt rail. Window fillers are connected to the skirt rail at lower ends, extend in an upper side, and are arranged from a front to a rear with a predetermined interval. A waist rail extends from the front to the rear with a predetermined distance in the upper side of the skirt rail and is engaged with each of the window fillers. A first region includes a first member connecting the waist rail and the skirt rail and a second member connecting the upper part of the first member and the lower end of the window filler. A second region includes a third member connecting the waist rail and the skirt rail and a fourth member connecting the upper of the third member and the lower part of the window filler.

The passenger transportation system comprises: a non-propelled non-wheeled passenger module having at least one passenger seat for a passenger, a first propulsion module configured to autonomously travel on the ground and a second propulsion module configured to autonomously travel in air, wherein the passenger module is arranged to be releasably coupled to the first propulsion module or the second propulsion module to allow the passenger module to be transported on the ground or in air by the first propulsion module or the second propulsion module.