They will lead to the world's first Personal Rapid Transport system starting full operation by the autumn and the same technology is also set to be introduced in the centre of Daventry, Norhamptonshire in about five years.

Other councils are also understood to be considering schemes including Cardiff and North West Leicestershire Council.

The Heathrow system will see 18 battery-powered pods – each capable of carrying four adults and two children along with their luggage – shuttling between the terminal and the car park along a 2.4 mile concrete track known as a "guideway".

According to Heathrow passengers will have to wait no longer than a minute for their pod to arrive – a vast improvement on the existing shuttle buses which use conventional roads around the airport.

The journey itself will take three minutes with the pods travelling at 25mph and it is anticipated that the system will be used by half a million passengers a year.

When still the pods' battery will recharge and, as a result, will not only use 70 per cent less energy than a car making the same journey, but also emit no CO2.

BAA, Heathrow's operators, have spent £25 million on the system which could eventually be extended to other parts of the airport.

Expanding the system would help Heathrow keep within the air quality targets which have been set by the Government as a condition of being allowed to build a third runway.

If the technology, which was developed in South Wales, is rolled out across the airport, it could cut the amount of time passengers need to get from one terminal to another dramatically.

The use at Terminal 5 is seen as a trial which, if successful, could see the system being rolled out across the airport as a whole. But this could require as many as 500 pods and 30 miles of track.

The pods are also capable of using sophisticated computer technology which would, for example, take a passenger to the correct terminal once the flight number is tapped in on a console or details are read from a chip embedded in a passenger’s frequent flier card.

by:telegraph