Elevators are absolutely vital in tall buildings, but they have their limits -- they can only move so quickly, and they can't usually move sideways to fetch you from the far side of a building.
The firm, German company ThyssenKrupp, has invented a cable-free elevator (called MULTI) that can go up and down like traditional lifts, but the magnetic motors allow it to go side-to-side, too.
They can operate in loops and aren't limited by heights, either, so it's easy to put multiple elevator cars in one shaft. You'll ideally never wait longer than 30 seconds for a lift, and the space-saving design lets building owners offer more (or at least larger) apartments and offices.
The technology backing ThyssenKrupp's MULTI elevator is very similar to magnetic levitation systems used in high-speed trains. Each car has two magnetic linear motors?Cone for vertical movement and another for horizontal. This system can also deliver power to the car's internal lighting and electronics through wireless induction, so no physical tether is needed.
ThyssenKrupp didn't go into detail about safety measures in its announcement, but it's safe to say the magnetic levitation elevator will have some sort of system to hold it in place if the lights go out.
Multi isn't the first cable-free, horizontal elevator; MagneMotion already has a system in use onboard an aircraft carrier for delivering weapons. However, this may be the first that you'll actually get to use.
ThyssenKrupp plans real-world tests for its elevator in a trial tower around 2016, and the hardware is intended for civilian buildings. If all goes well, you won't have to spend ages waiting to get to your intended floor in the future even if it's at the very top of a skyscraper.
