Solar powered self-driving vehicles called "Jpods" will be tested in New Jersey as that city's first personal transit system.

JPods look like small train carriages that hang under raised rail lines rather than running on train tracks.

It's an intelligent transport system that avoids traffic by having the pods talk to each other and avoid unnecessary traffic jams.

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It's also an efficient mode of transportation because it moves less weight per trip. Instead of a whole train being used to move a few people, it only moves a few people, reducing energy expenditure by 85 percent.

They're similar to trains in that there are several small pods traveling along a rail track. The idea is likened to people carpooling as the pod navigates the rail networks.

Jpods are a combination of a light rail transit and self-driving car. The pod will follow the rail to drop-off commuters at a location near their desired destination.

JPods will first be tested in Secaucus, New Jersey, a place notorious for its traffic congesiton. Plans are to have this system go nationwide by 2030.

Solar panels will allow the Jpods to be sustainably powered by the sun. The idea is that Jpods will replace cars and, eventually, other modes of public transit.

Bill James, Founder and CEO of Jpods, believes that having the solar panels above will ensure the system has power no matter how vast it grows. He's a former U.S. Army officer.

James said his team of West Point graduates -- the school they all came from -- focused on creating a transportation system fully dependent on renewable resources.

He describes Jpods as a "Physical Internet." Jpods works exactly like the internet: traffic in both systems operate through a complex network.

TagsJpods, Bill James, Solar Powered