A German company called Thyssenkrup has used magnetic levitation, or maglev technology, to create elevators that do not rely on the traditional suspension system that the common elevators use. This current system confines elevators to only travelling up an down, so that it is only capable of moving you to the same spot on a different floor. However using the maglev technology, elevators are no longer confined like this, but can travel sideways, at angles, and even into the city; these elevators are called Multi. This new innovation makes it so buildings do not be designed around a core of elevators, but into different shapes. For example, one wouldn't have to walk from one elevator on the east side of the building to the west, but simply take one trip and be where they are needed. 
The North American CEO of Thyssenkrupp, Patrick Bass, believes that Multi elevators have the potential to create new transportation networks to support cities of the future. Currently, in order to get somewhere you likely have to take multiple forms of transportation, such as cars, trains, buses, and elevators. Bass wants to help remedy this problem by seamlessly working together other technology from Thyssenhrupp along with Multi. This includes Accel which is a moving walkway that accelerates after you step using maglev technology that allows you to go twice the speed of a regular moving walkway. This plan per say is already in motion, with Accel currently being used in some cities, yet the Multi elevators are still new. A one-third scale version of the elevators was made by Thyssenhrupp in 2014, and by the end of the year they hope to complete the first full size elevator in their own high-rise in Germany. While Thyssenhrupp is responsible for more than a million elevators across the world, they see themselves as more than an elevator company, but rather a, "transportation company," said Bass.
Click here to read the original article and watch a video on the Multi elevator.
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