Abstract
This thesis proposes and evaluates a new transportation system — Nymbel — designed to address critical inefficiencies in current urban mobility, including traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and excessive resource use. Through a systems-engineering approach, the study integrates existing technologies in autonomous electric vehicles, elevated infrastructure, and adaptive routing to develop a more efficient and scalable urban transport model.A combination of root cause analysis, lifecycle energy modelling, and comparative performance benchmarking against mass transit and private cars is used to demonstrate Nymbel’s potential. Key findings suggest significant gains in resource efficiency, spatial use, and passenger throughput.
The research also outlines the prototyping process and identifies key design constraints, user experience considerations, and future research pathways. While implementation challenges remain, the results indicate that rethinking system-level constraints may lead to transformative improvements in urban transport outcomes.
| Date of Award | 6 Aug 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | John Allport (Main Supervisor) & Helen Miao (Co-Supervisor) |