DEVELOPMENTS        -   Beyond Research & Development with MDI & IndraNet

The AIRPod at Cannes film festival  - Advertising
Four giant screens located at strategic points of the festival, broadcast, every hour, an advertisement on AirPod. Source  View Video Advertisement

He presented the MDI Technology to 15 Senior Officials and discussed the implementation in U.S.
On the way home, a meeting at City Hall in New York was organized to provide for tests of AIRPod in a fleet of the City of New York Source

Is Santa looking for a more Eco form of transport?
 To View the Video

Tests on snow and ice were held at MDI Factory, in Carros, Nice, France and the results for road holding and braking were good.  Also see Video

MDI continues its European road show with a stop in Denmark's capital. Guests at the official launch of the Nobel Prize Sustainable Development by the Nobel brothers.

For this occasion AIRPod the colors of KLM has made the trip from Schiphol to Copenhagen before joining its test base in Amsterdam. Also see Video

Peter De Swert, Executive Vice President of KLM Engineering & Maintenance received the keys from the hands of Cyril NÈGRE Vice President of MDI. Also see Video

Air France will wait for official documents before testing begins.

MDI replies to MISTAKES BY BERKELEY - Economic and environmental evaluation of compressed-air cars by University of California at Berkeley. This study published by the Environmental Research Letters

MDI and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne sign a co-operation agreement on research at the EPFL concerning production and storage of compressed air. On this occasion, a presentation to the press about the challenges regarding the energy of compressed air is held on the campus of the EPFL, along with demonstration of the AIRPod. Source Catecar SA is scheduled to start production of AIRPod's in spring in  Reconvilier (Jura, Switzerland)

Andorra is a small country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. This factory will produce only AIRPod's and differs from MDI Concept Plan for reasons of space in the rugged mountains. It will make use of geothermal energy.

There are indications that factories are to be opened  in Switzerland and Andorra then Toulouse, and Barcelona,
as well as Carros in Nice. The factory in Carros will remain the heart of R & D and provide training to emerging plants, as well as limited production.

NEW DATE - France 3 says the KLM/Air France and Port of Nice tests will not start before January 2010.
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Licences for 57 plants (with a staff of 60 people each) have been sold worldwide. Production will start in the first trimester of 2010, says Guy Nègre. Gradually, first one a day, then one an hour, until reaching cruising speed of 3 an hour.
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It is been confirmed that deliveries will start in first Trimester of 2010 by Guy Nègre in an interview (in French)  with Nice-Matin: January or February, March at the latest to take a little margin. The first mother moulds have arrived and will be used from November on. Source

AIRPod at KLM 90th Anniversary Celebrations
Peter F.Hartman CEO of KLM arrives in an AIRPod for his inaugural speech as KLM Celebrate 90 Years. Source

IndraNet Technologies - Progress in development & integration of the FraMe Network in Christchurch, New Zealand
   
                     Minders being made ready for installation                                                   Aerial being adjusted                                       

• AIRPod 45 (45 km/h, 4 kW, torque 35 Nm),
• AIRPod GT (80 km/h, 6 kW, torque 40 Nm),
• AIRPod Baby (as GT, but only 2 persons and trunk, not 3),
• AIRPod Cargo (1 person and large trunk).

Michel Verdiani of VERDIVAP, producer of agricultural soil disinfection machines by compressed air, collaborates closely with MDI and claims that for the AIRPod, certification will be a fact on Tuesday September 8th. This latest AIRPod will be silent and of color white. It will be in the streets of Nice probably from the 9th of September onwards. Then a busy week lies ahead, with AIRPod's in Nice for the port festivities, a ride in Paris on the Champs Elysés, a visit to Luxemburg and its minister of transport, and an other visit to the Netherlands. It is equipped with semi-automatic steering, abs braking, complete instruments panel, safety belts and an engine three times more powerful than in the blue Air France/KLM AIRPod demonstrated on the Place Massena in Nice recently. Even the body shell will be ecological, as it will be made with use of bio-resins. The homologation will be valid for the 25 countries of the European Union.

As for the market launch: work is now being done on the pre-series and the first deliveries are expected to happen in the first trimester of 2010. This has been confirmed by Guy Nègre in an interview with Nice-Matin: January or February, March
at the latest to take a little margin. There will be a waiting list and the orders will be executed in strict rotation according to date of arrival. The first mother moulds have arrived and will be used from November on.

Filling the tank with air will cost between € 0.5 and € 2, according to time and way of refill. The range will be 140 km/87 miles (3 persons) to 200 km/125 miles (1 person). Source http://www.aircars.tk/ - English - News

A Nobel Prize for the AIR Car ??????
Members representing the Nobel Charitable Trust pictured during a visit to MDI Factory. "The Nobel Charitable Trust focuses on the use of alternative energy and protecting our environment in everyday life as an important priority for today an d for generations to come." They are looking at entrants for Nobel Prize for sustainable development.

Official Event with Air France

An official event was held to mark the formal agreement between MDI and Air France/KLM, this was held at the National Library of France in Paris.

The vehicles were produce in colours of the two airlines. Source

Two types of AIRPod will be tested on the platforms of
Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol

• Vehicles "cargo" for the transport of small materials such as crates tools, appliances, spare parts;

• Vehicles "people" capable of carrying a driver and two passengers.

4 vehicles will be tested in the maintenance operations of Air France Industries and operation of Air France at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and 3 at KLM E & M in Amsterdam Schiphol.

AIRPod For each, a "test driver" of record run a protocol of tests that will assess the overall performance of the vehicle, including aspects related to safety, ergonomics, reliability and autonomy.

Fully supported by the MDI, this feasibility study will determine whether the AIRPod meets the expectations of Air France Industries and KLM E & M. Source

MDI wins Eco-conscious Award

MDI wins the special design  of LOHAS, (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), sponsored by Sotokoto a leading magazine of High Tech Japan. The AIRPod was competing on price with another Japanese non-polluting vehicle. Source

History in the making
The beginning of a new Era!

AIRPod being introduced to KLM  at Schiphol Airport  Amsterdam

 25 March 2009

Guy Nègre presented the AIRPod to Schiphol International Airport, Amsterdam (see Dutch Video)

Communications (IndraNet Frame Networks) – IndraNet has successfully completed testing program, achieving stability of the FraMe test mesh network in Christchurch, New Zealand.

• with over 1 Mb/s and up to 3 Mb/s symmetrical bandwidth,

• very low latencies,

• guaranteed bandwidth,

• highly scalable,

• multiplicity of independent parallel uses, and

• highly secure.

When they began, 11 years ago, there were about a dozen teams world-wide working in this domain. Most have fallen by the way side after several hundred million dollars of expenditure. IndraNet have achieved success with less than $20 million of funding. Their technology is globally patented. They are now working to expand capacity to over 5 Mb/s based on new hardware.
 

Central to the networks are IndraNet Minders which are highly sophisticated computers (when formed into a mesh network with other minders) are capable of initially delivering decentralised Telecommunications and decentralised Intelligent Power Grids and later decentralised TV Broadcasting & Entertainment and decentralised Transport Systems. Source

Watch Interview
Guy & Cyril Nègre
The Auto Channel

 AIRPod

8.48 sec - 20.6MB

Mr Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice,  signed a Protocol Agreement with Mr Nègre for the supply of a fleet of utility AIRPod's to the City of Nice. Source