Traveling the Century
The transportation technology that is now available is making sci-fi ideas of thirty years ago a reality, and with lower fuel emissions too. Years ago, driving a car that can travel on both land and sea, navigating an actual hovercraft or making your daily commute by Skycar were concepts so seemingly far fetched that they could only exist in fiction. But our world has become so technology driven that, surely, soon no method of transportation will be out of the question. Fiction is becoming reality, in fact, some of these marvels are already here. Here are some of the most innovative methods of getting from point A to point B in true modern style.
The ‘Uno’-Wheeled Motorcycle
Don't be fooled. This unicycle of sorts is not for circus clowns, but instead is a practical motorbike that could soon be replacing traditional two-wheeled motorcycles. Created by teenager Ben Gulak, the Uno, as he has dubbed it, is well on its way to being China's answer to their abundant pollution-producing motorcycles. Gulak got the idea as he flew into a densely smog-filled Beijing nearly three years ago and decided something needed to be changed. The idea is that two wheels, sitting one inch apart underneath the rider, will create balance. The rider gains speed simply by leaning forward. When the rider turns, the inside wheel lifts and the outside wheel lowers, ensuring both wheels remain firmly planted on the ground. Designed to maneuver easily through crowded city streets Gulak also wanted a motorbike that would produce far fewer emissions. Incredibly, the Uno produces none because it is an all-electric unicycle. The Uno does not have all the kinks worked out and is not on the market but the prototype has certainly stirred a buzz. Believe it or not but this is not the only one-wheeled motorcycle prototype. The Bombardier Company has released EMBRIO, a one-wheeled motorcycle that uses a complex series of sensors and gyroscopes to balance up to 2 human passengers on a single wheel. In the very near future we could be seeing more people on motorized unicycles than on those has-been motorcycles of the past.
Rinspeed’s sQuba Car
Remember the first time you saw the submersible car in 007’s 1977 flick, The Spy Who Loved Me, and thought "where do I get one of those?" Well, Swiss automotive manufacturer Rinspeed will soon be producing sQuba, the world's first land traversing and water submersing automobile for the masses. With the first model recently completed in 2008 and shown to the world at the Geneva Motor Show last March it seems that technology is well on its way to turning one of the coolest Bond-mobile concept into reality. Using three motors, one of which is used for land roaming while the other two are used for underwater propulsion, the sQuba will reach speeds of up to 120 mph on land, 3.7mph under water and achieve depths up to 33ft. And in true 21st century fashion, this car will be eco-friendly, producing zero-emissions powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries. Undoubtedly, the technology for such a vehicle has needed some serious tweaking, but sQuba visionary, Frank M. Rinderknecht has been working on his model for almost two decades now. He knows it is only a matter of time before the vehicle is perfected. The car will drive on land, float in water and once it begins to submerge the passenger will breathe air from a compressed tank of air, as the car is designed as an open top automobile for safety purposes. The open top concept may seem strange at first thought, but who wants to be trapped 30ft below in a watertight car?
Air Board
Now we can all ride a personal hoverboard like Marty Mcfly. To some extent, that is. The personal hovercraft is finally here and civilians can scoot around on nothing but air. Arbortech has created the Airboard, a gas powered (it’s true; although not exceedingly eco-friendly) device that glides an individual around any smooth surface-pavement, asphalt or freshly cut grass. Sadly, water gliding is not an option yet. While riders will technically still be on the ground, the shell of the craft sits on a cushion of air propelled by a fan which makes maneuvering 360º easy, and really fun. You turn the Airboard in the direction you wish to go by simply leaning your body and the craft will follow. The craft requires low maintenance and achieves top speeds of 15mph. Hovering around your neighborhood is finally possible! Some describe using it as feeling like a combination of flying and skiing. Hoverboarding/Airboarding could very easily become the skateboarding of the future. Just think, you could be the first to win the championship.
Skycar M400
Now this is seriously cool technology. Forget about cars or bikes or boards or anything else that travels on the ground because the Skycar M400 is soon to make air travel common for everyday use – no runway required. Able to hit speeds of 375mph and reach 20 miles per gallon on cleaner burning ethanol fuel, this car of the skies naturally seems like the next step in personal transportation. Moller International is the company responsible for giving the world its first winged automobile, and the technology used to achieve this feat is like something straight of the Jetsons. Plus, it couldn’t be more straightforward. First of all, no pilot’s license is necessary to operate one of these puppies because it is just like driving a car. Well, minus the traffic, road signs and speeding tickets, of course. Okay, it will be easier than driving a car. Then there’s the liftoff. Runways will not need to replace driveways because takeoff and landing occurs vertically from rotary engines. Several models have already been designed with seating variety for 1 to 6 passengers, with distance ranges of up to 750 miles on one full tank, and altitudes up to 10.8 kilometers. Soon flying cars will be a simple reality and future generations may wonder how we ever did without them. Henry Ford wasn’t crazy when he remarked, “Mark my word: A combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile. But it will come…” He was just a few years ahead of his time.
Personal Jet Pack
What if you could fly without wings, takeoff with ease and land with precision all by wearing a jet fueled belt pack? That would be great, right? Well, sorry, you can’t. At least not for more than 9 minutes. Colorado based company JetPack International, or Jet PI, initially developed the technology to give a person 33 seconds of high-flying fun at heights of up to120ft. Known as the ‘world’s longest flying jetpack’ Jet PI’s main contender was Mexico’s Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, or TAM, whose model competed at a measly 30 seconds of flight. The models for both these companies opted to burn hydrogen peroxide as fuel to keep their 124-139 pound jetpack afloat, and the cost for the very short rides ranged from $155,000 to $250,000. Doesn’t quite sound worth it to you either, huh? Because the rider couldn’t really go anywhere or do anything such as perform fun tricks in the air, Jet PI founder, Troy Widgery toiled to create the T73 Turbine, a much more advanced model promising more air time (9 minutes, woohoo!) with a maximum height of 250ft. So how did he do it? He had to revert to jet A fuel in place of the hydrogen peroxide (which wasn’t really cutting it) and blew TAM right out of the water. Unfortunately, a 9 minute ride will still run you a nice $200,000, but hey, it sure does beat 33 seconds. Just imagine what you could do in 9 minutes.
All of these evolving technologies are making transportation that seemed impossible, just a few short decades ago, into reality. The once ‘impossible’ has become the modern fact. Our grandparents generation may have been around for the first automobiles, but our generation has produced the first flying ones. All these cool ways to travel are only breaking ground for other ideas that have yet to become a reality. Transportation will change more and more and the distances between people will begin to matter less and less. The only thing that will matter is how you want to go.
Posts
