Development began in the 1960s when Westinghouse, a
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania company, first engineered an
automated people mover (APM) for use on a demonstration project at the
Allegheny County Fairgrounds in Pittsburgh. The technology came to be known as the Skybus, because it was a rubber-tired vehicle, similar to a bus that operated on a designated elevated roadway. Engineers believed that it would be able to move 5,000 to 14,000 per hour per direction, and could offer around-the-clock service every two minutes. After the tests, Westinghouse and the
Port Authority of Allegheny County attempted to build a larger system, the
Transit Expressway Revenue Line, which proved controversial. Political leaders were skeptical of the rubber-tired mass transit technology, and accused the Port Authority of improperly choosing Westinghouse's APM over a competing proposal for a more traditional light rail system. Eventually plans to implement a Skybus system in Pennsylvania were rejected. Despite this, work continued on the technology. In 1971, Westinghouse was finally able to commercialize its APM technology, selling what it called the C-100 system to
Tampa International Airport, ushering in dozens similar people mover systems at airports around the world. The C-100 was improved with an updated second-generation of vehicles, and the more heavily updated CX-100 system. All together, 14 systems were delivered in the 1980s and 1990s. The APM technology was purchased by
AEG in 1988 and later transferred to
Adtranz in 1996. As the competing
Crystal Mover system grew in popularity, Adtranz began developing a new, more aerodynamic model known as Innovia, which started testing in 1999. In addition to its sleeker appearance, the new Innovia people mover also offered greater speeds, tighter turns, full composite construction and a choice in end caps. The first Innovia people mover system delivered opened in 2005 at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The technology transferred to
Bombardier Transportation in 2001, which continued to sell both the newer Innovia APM 200 and the older CX-100 technology under the name Innovia APM 100. The last Innovia APM 100 system delivered was delivered in 2010. Amid the development of a third generation model, Bombardier decided to rebrand its entire automated transit system portfolio as Innovia. The two previous models became legacy systems and are no longer marketed to new customers, although existing customers can and do still order more vehicles as needed. The third and latest model is called the Innovia APM 300 system. It looks very similar to the original Innovia people mover (now called the Innovia APM 200 system), but is longer, more energy efficient and capable of 6-car train configurations. In November 2014, Bombardier signed a joint venture agreement with China's
CRRC Nanjing Puzhen to manufacture and market Innovia APM and
Innovia Monorail systems in the Chinese market. == Production ==