What Will Move And Where Will Humanity Live In 20 Years

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

A city banned from private cars, a flying convertible taxi, a solar-powered airplane and seven more amazing transport concepts of the future from around the globe.

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Elon Musk's capsule train

Hyperloop. This is the name of the capsule train project, which was invented by Elon Musk in 2013. The essence of the concept is to create a system of sealed capsules that sweep through vacuum tubes at speeds of up to 1300 km / h. Musk did not build it on his own: the inventor simply posted the project in open access and allowed everyone to use the idea.

Several companies took on the project, including Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), Virgin Hyperloop One and TransPod. Over the past few years, they have planned the construction of several test sites.

If the Hyperloop is eventually built - and so far there is great doubt about this - the capsule train will dramatically reduce travel time from one city to another. You will get a real ground (more precisely, underground) alternative to airplanes. The developers promise that, despite the high speeds, the acceleration of capsule trains will be so smooth that even coffee will not spill on the way.

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A city where petrol cars are prohibited

"Eco-city" Masdar is being built in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 17 km from Abu Dhabi. Construction is funded by government funds. The first plan for Masdar was presented in 2006: then the city was promised to be completed by 2016. Then the date of delivery was postponed to 2020. But so far it did not work out again.

The key feature of Masdar is the complete rejection of fossil fuels. This city should live entirely on solar and other renewable energy. Also, there will be a law that prohibits the use of vehicles with internal combustion engines.

The creators of the project admit that so far they have made Masdar "carbon neutral" only by half. Electric vehicles and the PRT system, Personal Rapid Transit, are responsible for the transportation of residents and guests of Masdar. This is the name for fully autonomous vehicles that move along dedicated paths on demand, rather than on a schedule.

At the same time, pedestrians are considered priority participants in the city. The creators of the project tried to design Masdar in such a way that there would be no serious need to use transport in principle. All basic infrastructure is within walking distance, and the close proximity of buildings to each other allows you to organize shade and light wind. In the desert climate of the UAE, this is especially valuable for pedestrians.

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Megaproject of the Saudi Prince

Another "super city of the future" is being built in Saudi Arabia. Of course, the largest state in the Middle East decided to outstrip its neighbors from the UAE, and 11 years after the announcement of Masdar, the Saudi prince called his own city, Neom, "the most ambitious project in the world".

Everything is the same here: energy only from renewable sources, environmentally friendly transport, no cars with internal combustion engines. Among other things, the masterminds of the project plan to organize a system of flying taxi drones in the city. They want to build the city on the shores of the Red Sea near the borders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The proximity to the zone of recent hostilities did not stop the Saudis.

innovations that are introduced in the construction and design of Neom come regularly. Unlike investment. Despite all sorts of promises from the crown prince, Western companies are reluctant to go to Neom - and the monarch himself is in no hurry to cover the full cost of all work. The current plan provides for the completion of the first part of the city's construction by 2025.

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Transformer that rides and flies

Flying transport in the coming years may appear not only in Neoma. Both giant corporations and small start-ups are engaged in the development of such a vehicle. At the same time, nobody canceled the need to park even a flying car, so the car of the future should be able to land and take off vertically. This is one of the biggest challenges for engineers now.

Terrafugi has not yet succeeded in solving the problem. Their current development, called the Transition, can fly, but cannot land vertically. So, future owners shouldn't expect to easily flutter the sudden traffic jam - takeoff can only be done at the airport.

In addition to a driver's license, a pilot's license is required to drive the Transition. But you can store a flying car in the garage: switching from "flight" mode to "road" occurs in a minute. Also, the car does not need expensive aviation fuel to operate - gasoline is enough. TerrafugiTransition has not yet gone on sale, but those who wish can already pre-order. The approximate cost is $ 400,000.

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Unmanned "summer car"

Another Terrafugi project is the TF-X summer car. It looks much more elegant and futuristic than the clumsy Transition. Traffic jams, as well as bad weather, should not be scary for its future owners: TF-X should be able to take off and land vertically.

The Terrafugi is designed for four passengers. No driver required. It will be enough to inform the destination, the machine will do the rest by itself. It is not known when the flying drone project will reach the sales stage. As the manufacturers promise, the TF-X will be able to take off real, not virtual, in 2023.

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Air taxi from Uber

The emergence of air taxi services is a very foreseeable future. Uber expects to lead the market. She announced plans to connect the airspace to the individual travel system in 2016. From 2023, the company is going to launch a new service.

Earlier this year, Hyundai teamed up with Uber to unveil the S-A1 air taxi concept. Together with him, the developers showed the Hub site, which is necessary for the functioning of the new taxi - from this site the air taxi will be able to perform vertical take-off and landing.

The car will take up to four passengers on board. At first, the pilot will control the air taxi, later the developers expect that the flights will become autonomous. As a result, the S-A1 is promised to be made completely electric and not as noisy as helicopters.

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Electric multicopter

Flying cars driven by humans are not quite the "transportation future" that most experts predict. The most promising scenario is the proliferation of flying drones. It is the projects dealing with this kind of development that attract investors the most.

Several large companies are currently working on unmanned aerotaxis. Among them is the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, whose CityAirbus device made its first free flight in January 2020. Unlike the Hyundai and Uber project, the Airbus development does not initially envisage finding the pilot in the cockpit.

The electric multicopter will travel at speeds up to 120 km / h for a distance of up to 30 km. The CityAirbus will be able to transport up to four people. Subsequently, the aircraft corporation - and other participants in similar projects - expect to fly not only flying taxis, but also more accessible air buses for passengers.

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Airplane on solar panels

Fewer wheels, more wings: the solar-powered aircraft Solar Impuls made its first flight in December 2009. You can't buy it, but the prototype really flies.

The solar plane was built by an entrepreneur and psychiatrist: the Swiss Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Picard. On their own Solar Impuls, the two inventors have traveled all over the world. True, the plane turned out to be one-seater, so the creators flew it in turn.

The Swiss have proven that solar energy can be used in aviation. Even the local post office acknowledged their efforts and issued a postage stamp in honor of Solar Impulse.

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An electric motor instead of a jet engine

How to achieve the minimum level of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere - the best minds of the planet are fighting to solve this problem. In pursuit of "carbon neutrality", everyone is trying to electrify. Including airplanes. Boeing's main competitor, Airbus, has set an ambitious goal of making a large civil aircraft fully electric. One of the steps towards achieving this goal is the E-Fan X project.

In 2014, Airbus launched the all-electric two-seater E-Fan, but it never came to mass production. The program was curtailed, and the stake was made on the new concept E-Fan X - a joint project with Rolls-Royce and Siemens.

The British Aerospace 146 midsize jet was chosen as the development platform. It was produced in the UK from 1983 to 2002. But if the BA-146 had four jet engines, then the E-Fan X has only three. Instead of the fourth - an electric motor. Yes, this is still not a full-fledged electric plane - but already something more than a single-seat glider! The first flight of this device was scheduled for 2021, but in April 2020 the project was frozen … due to the coronavirus pandemic, which hit hard throughout the aviation industry. However, electric planes will surely appear!

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A hybrid of a drone and a satellite for the military

Transport is needed not only for transporting people. The military is a separate (and very large) customer of innovative transport. For the Air Force, an artificial satellite is sometimes too expensive, and a conventional quadcopter is not effective enough. AurorFlight Sciences, a subsidiary of Boeing, tried to cross a drone and a spacecraft.

The project of this company was named "Odysseus" in honor of the legendary character of ancient Greek mythology. As the ancient Greek Odysseus plowed the ocean for years, so the Boeing's Odysseus will “travel” across the sky for months. It is expected that the new flying device will rise to the border of the troposphere and monitor targets on the ground, in the air and on the water.

The Flying Odysseus is a 74-meter carbon fiber wing spar. This material is used to make Formula 1 race cars and the latest military developments. The upper surface of the wing was covered with fiberglass, under which lithium-polymer batteries were hidden. According to the calculations of the creators, this will allow the "Odyssey" to fly for three months in a row without landing. The lack of charge will be replenished by the sun. The useful loading of the drone satellite will reach 25 kg: this is enough, for example, for a video camera, simple equipment or compact weapons.

The device was supposed to make its first flight in the spring of 2019. Judging by the lack of news, the test has not yet taken place. Or the information was classified.