Stuck in a traffic jam and about to be late for work, who hasn't dreamt of a way to get
somewhere by skirting all the unnecessary chaos?
Hmm, right now, there seems to be no way to avoid traffic congestion.
But in less than 10 years, you're likely to forget what that is!
Urban Air Mobility experts predict that one day, your way to work will take minutes instead
of hours thanks to air taxi.
But the best news is that it may happen way sooner than you thought, around 2023 - 2025!
And by 2040, you won't remember the days when you couldn’t get anywhere by air.
The surprising truth is that most technologies needed for creating air taxis are already
here.
Even more, today there are already air taxi prototypes and test vehicles!
They look like drones, but way bigger.
The engineers of these flying machines state that they're going to be less harmful to the
environment than the fuel-powered cars we use today.
Flying taxis will move with the help of either hybrid or electric engines, which are said
to produce fewer carbon emissions.
Besides, the new air vehicles are likely to be quieter, more efficient, and cheaper than
modern aircraft.
On the other hand, there are still a lot of things to be done.
For example, the batteries, which are supposed to power the flying electric cars, must be
developed further so that they can last longer.
The companies responsible for these new technologies are currently pooling data and developing
artificial intelligence that will be able to control air traffic.
And it’ll be a challenge, what with thousands of drones, air taxis, and other flying gadgets
up in the air.
On top of that, flying taxis won't appear before several changes are made.
First, this new type of transport has to go through a special certification process.
Secondly, hundreds of heliports and helipads must be built all over the world.
All these numerous flying taxis will need pilots who’ll have to be trained.
Or they’ll have to invent driverless technology.
Also, people will need a new safety system that’ll control the airspace and prevent
flying cars from crashing into one another.
And finally, future passengers will have to believe that flying taxis are safe to use.
And even though flying taxis still seem to be a thing from the future, some experts have
already tried to estimate an approximate cost of the upcoming trips.
For example, you'll have to spend about $43 on a transfer from San Jose to San Francisco.
Do you think that’s a reasonable price for the possibility to avoid rush hour by traveling
through the air?
Tell me about your opinion in the comment section below!
However, the flying taxi isn't the only change you’re going to see in transportation in
the next decade or so.
One of the most spectacular innovations might be the Hyperloop.
This is a futuristic transport system which consists of tubes that shoot pod-like capsules
between stations.
Due to a special design, the speed of these capsules can reach a whopping 500 to 800 miles
per hour.
That means that it’d take you just about half an hour to travel from Los Angeles to
San Francisco!
Apparently everyone wants to go to San Francisco, huh?
One of the companies that’s developing the Hyperloop has already built a 1-mile-long
subscale track.
They say that by the mid-2020s, three brand-new Hyperloops may carry passengers for the first
time.
And by the year 2050, this way of traveling to your destination will be nothing out of
the ordinary.
If you're heading somewhere on your own in 2025, you'll most likely use a giant, autonomous
drone, capable of transporting one passenger.
But the most amazing thing is that such drones already exist!
For example, one machine created by a Chinese drone company is about 5 ft tall, weighs 440
pounds, and can transport a load of up to 220 pounds.
It's powered solely by electricity, and currently, the maximum time of a trip is 23 minutes.
The passenger drone can fly as high as 11,000 ft, and its speed can reach an impressive
62 miles per hour.
To get a ride from point A to point B, you just need to enter the locations into a special
smartphone app.
Then you can relax and let the drone do the rest of the work.
You also don't have to waste time looking for a gas station.
The drone can fully charge from an electrical outlet in a mere two hours.
(Hey have you ever been to Point A?
I mean a town really named Point A?
Maybe you’d find Point A in Canada.
You know, Point Eh?
Just wondering…
)
Now, even if you have a good old car in 2025, the chances are very high that it’ll be
autonomous.
That means you won't have to keep your hands on the steering wheel - the car will do all
the driving for you.
I can’t wait.
It's a popular belief that robotic drivers think and react faster than us humans.
On top of that, such AI can analyze what's happening in all directions at once.
I don't know whether it's true or not.
What I know though, is that today, there are already quite a few self-driving cars on the
roads.
They can detect buildings, change speed depending on the situation, look for exit ramps, and
interact with other cars.
However, some experts say that in 10 years, people will already be past the point of self-driving
cars.
Instead, you’ll own an inexpensive steel box on magnetic levitation and control it
by using an app on your smartphone.
On the other hand, there’s a project which suggests creating an entire transport network
of pods, which can seat one person at a time, and move along pre-described routes.
The human operator will control the pod with the help of a touchscreen embedded in the
windshield.
First, you'll select your destination, (hey let’s start at Point A in Canada) and after
that, during the trip, you'll be able to read the news, play a video game, or check your
e-mail.
You won't have to control the pod, and it will show your current location and the route
on the screen.
And finally, it probably goes without saying that in each pod, there’ll be a wireless
hotspot, and you'll be able to use the Internet on all your gadgets.
But let's return to cars as you know them today.
Instead of owning a car, in 5 or 10 years, you're likely to use fleet-based services.
Fewer and fewer vehicles will rest in people's garages, and it’ll change a lot of things
for the better.
For example, problems with limited parking places or traffic jams will become less acute.
Besides, keep in mind that in a couple of years, you probably won't have to drive at
all, what with all these self-driving vehicles.
That's why new services will be able to accommodate all kinds of needs.
Let's say, you'll summon a car with a bed late at night or a car with a desk on your
way to work when you need to finish a presentation.
But what if you need to travel a much greater distance than the way from your office to
your home?
Don't worry, sometime around 2040, you'll be able to have a hypersonic plane ride!
These aircraft will fly at incredible heights, and their speed is likely to be 5 times the
speed of sound, which will make it about 3,800 miles per hour!
Traveling from New York to London, in this case, will take less than two hours.
For comparison, these days, it takes a conventional airplane 8 hours to fly from one of these
cities to the other.
Unfortunately, all this hypersonic air travel will have a small catch.
The price of a ride on such a plane will be exorbitant, hefty, ridiculous – take your
pick --at least at first.
By the way, you might not recognize a plane from 2045.
These flying machines will keep changing for the next several decades.
And the chances are high that at some point, windows will start to disappear from airplanes
altogether.
This way, aircraft will become stronger and better suited for high speeds.
But the most amazing prediction about the future of Earth’s transport system is that
by 2045, there might be jumbo skyscrapers which will serve as spaceports.
The thing is that some buildings in the future may be constructed of carbon-based materials,
which will make them super-strong.
As a result, the height of skyscrapers could increase up to 20 miles!
And the roofs of these mammoth constructions will turn into spaceports.
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