You pull out of the drive in your spanking new 250cc lightwieght composite bodied P-car just as a giant SUV thunders by. Your P-cars navcomp checks the SUV's destiniation for a match to your own; level reads 95%. Bingo ! The high velocity suction grapple locks on and fires.
You free ride, gliding silently unnoticed behind the shimmering metalic behemoth. Later, as your own destination nears, the grapple releases, and the little 250 kicks in as you coast the final stretch.
-- nichpo, Aug 22 2003

//gliding silently unnoticed//
Do you really think this is going to go unnoticed? Even an ultralight one-person vehicle will significantly change the load on the engine of an SUV, the driver is sure to notice the sudden slowdown.
-- krelnik, Aug 22 2003


[krelnik] Point taken; but I bet some drivers wouldn't notice and even if they did some wouldn't be bothered to stop. If they do stop, just release and buzz along to the next ride. You could even have a polite 'hitch-hiker' version that would ask for the host driver's consent first.
-- nichpo, Aug 22 2003


This was in _Snow Crash_, except they were skateboarders with electromagnetic grapnels. There is actually a lot in the book about it. I recommend it. The book, not the practice.
-- bungston, Aug 22 2003


Make it mandatory, cars that are rated at less than 25mpg hwy have to be fitted with a devices that broadcast the destination and make it easy to latch on.
-- kbecker, Aug 22 2003


No matter what my actual destination I always seem to end up at the pub somehow...
-- DeathNinja, Aug 22 2003



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