I am very interested in seeing this discussed openly in many circles now. I had the idea for a maglev wheel back in 1998 and drew it up(basic schematics) and even began 1st stage prototyping. I soon realized just how expensive the task would become and had to abandon it sadly. I think the "tank tread" design like which is being discussed here would be the most cost effective way to prove the concept though.
Imagine driving your brand new solid state car!!!!! I mean that's what this technology will come to in the long run.
It's also possible to incorporate the suspension into this system the steering too and with no need of a transmission, this would do for cars what the transistor did for radios. Allow car builders the freedom to design ANY car they could imagine since they wouldn't have to think about the powertrain/suspension/steering in the same way they do now when designing. Not to mention many, many other applications where having a huge number of reciprocating parts is a bad thing, NASA vehicles, racing cars,military vehicles etc…..
All I'm saying is I know this technology has promise and we will begin to see it being used here and there soon. It may never end up on cars, but wow would it be cool if it did somehow =)
