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Google has given a $1 million investment to a New Zealand company called Shweeb to develop its idea for a human-powered monorail. The invention, which Shweeb has developed into a working prototype, is designed to revolutionize urban transportation, allowing commuters to travel in person-sized glass capsules that they power along a monorail track with bicycle pedals. The design, which must be seen to be believed, it distinctly reminiscent of the plastic transportation tubes shown in the opening sequence for the cartoon TV show, Futurama.

The Business Insider's Jay Yarow sighs, "Shweeb is supposed to 'drive innovation in public transport.' The money will go towards funding research to see if these pods can work in urban areas. We could have saved Google $1 million. This will not work."

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