Did you just spend another morning parked like sardine in a train carriage? Or did you just spend an hour tapping your steering wheel in another seemingly endless traffic jam? Fortunately, the tech world is working on several ideas as some very smart people are looking into how they can change how you travel.
In the future, you can expect driverless cars and high-speed rails taking you to and from the office. However, as the technicalities behind such innovations are been worked out, there are some notable technologies that have already emerged. With smarter, better high precision metal stamping technology, here are just a few smart innovations that are laying the groundwork for better transportation.
HOT Lanes
As funding for widening or building new highways continues to dwindle, states will have to look to other options such as HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes to help with reducing congestion. These lanes are designed to replace the older HOV lanes by allowing commuters to maintain an average overall speed, even when traffic is heavy. The system works by analyzing highway volume and speed, adjusting the cost of driving on the lane; already, drivers in Washington DC, the state of Virginia and Los Angeles County are taking advantage of this innovation.
Hyperloop
You have probably heard about this technology. Hyperloop is a technology that revolves around levitating vehicles or pods that are propelled by electric motors at high speed. Hyperloop companies are now looking into creating a high-speed route that runs between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with more projects already in the pipeline.
The Hyperloop concept is an idea by billionaire inventor Elon Musk of SpaceX and consists of massive tubes extending from one city to the next. Inside the tubes are pods carrying passengers and expected to reach speeds topping over 700 mph, something that looks to be straight from The Jetsons cartoon. Using hyperloop, a journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles, that takes about six hours by car, would only take 35 minutes!
Streets Go Underground
According to a London architecture firm, PLP, one of the best ways to reduce congestion on Britain’s capital is taking cars underground. Using already existing technologies like ICON hydrolic shoring equipment, the firm suggests taking vehicles underground using automated belts – much like the rolling walkway in an airport, but for cars this time. While only a concept right now, one day London may transform its streets.
The system will help cut down commute time by about 15 minutes. However, there are doubts about the viability of the project, considering how to find space in the network of tunnels under London’s streets. Another concern is whether the system is worth investing into compared to investing in improving the already existing infrastructure.
Wind Energy to Power Trains
Ok, these trains do not have sails, but recently, Dutch electric trains have been running on wind energy electricity. The country’s wind energy trains transport over 600,000 people every day. While not as glamorous as the hyperloop, this project is an indicator of the global effort to make public transportation as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
Passenger Drones
With over 200 test flights, the Ehang 184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV), a real, flying vehicle drone is ready to carry passengers in the near future in Dubai. The drone can carry one person weighing up to a maximum 220 pounds to heights of 11,500 feet for up to 40 miles on a single charge of the electric battery. In addition, the drone flies itself, passengers do nothing more than select the destination on a touch screen and it takes off!
A lot of red tape will delay a debut of the drone on American soil by about two to three years. Nevertheless, maybe one day you will be able to hail one of these heli-cabs in the United States.
