Four big changes in transportation are happening this decade. They are changing how we move, work, and live.Transportation is changing quickly. New ideas like autonomous vehicles, Hyperloop tech, and AI systems lead the way. Industries like online gaming and entertainment are adapting fast. For example, 22Casino login is using new technology. This helps improve user experiences.
In 2011, Peter Thiel famously remarked, “We wanted flying cars. Instead, we got 140 characters.” Well, flying cars are finally on the horizon—along with much more.
In this post, we will explore the latest breakthroughs in:
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Telepresence Robots and Virtual Worlds
- Hyperloop
- Point-to-Point Aerial Transport
Each of these will change where we live, work, and interact.
Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous cars are coming and coming fast. Every major car company is developing autonomous vehicles. By 2035, there will be more than 54 million autonomous cars on the road, changing everything.
Saved Lives: There are 1.2 million people killed every year in car accidents. Self-driving cars don’t drive drunk, text, forget things, or fall asleep at the wheel.
Reclaiming Land: Autonomous cars use land better. We can fit eight times more of them on our roads. In Los Angeles, over half of the city’s land is taken up by cars. This includes garages, driveways, roads, and parking lots.
Saved Energy: Today, about 25% of our energy is used for getting around personally. Also, cars produce 25 percent of our greenhouse gases.
Saved Money: Get rid of needing to own a car, pay for insurance and parking, trade out 4,000-lb. Lighter electric cars that won’t crash. You can save 90% on your local transport costs.
Best of all, you can call any car you need when you need it. Need a nap? Order a car with a bed. Want to party? Order one with a stocked bar. Need a business meeting? Up drives a conference room on wheels.
Telepresence Robotics and Virtual Worlds
In 2015, the Global Business Travel Association reported that the US would spend over $310 billion on business travel. This amounted to roughly 490.4 million business trips taken.
The idea of having to schlep your “meat body” from one location to another for a meeting will soon be old-school.
Instead, you’ll plug into a virtual world or use a Beam robot to connect virtually. Companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sony, HTC, and Suitable Technologies are investing billions to advance hardware and enhance user experiences.
While flying from LA to NY saves money and time, meeting in person can be a disadvantage. I can see your pupils change when I talk to you through a virtual link or robot. My system can also pull up facts from our last chat. This helps me interact with you in many ways.
In the next decade, you will attend conferences, meetings, interviews, keynotes, and dates through telepresence and virtual worlds. The advantage of avoiding a full cavity search courtesy of airport TSA makes it worth it.
I have 15 Beam robots spread across my offices. They are at XPRIZE in Los Angeles, Singularity University in Mountain View, Human Longevity Inc. (San Diego), and Planetary Resources (Seattle). In a single day, I routinely hop between four cities with a click of a button.
Hyperloop
California approved a $69 billion high-speed rail project a few years back. It will connect Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, responded by publishing a paper on the Hyperloop. This system is like a mix of a Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table. Plus, it could be built for 10% of the cost of high-speed rail.
Guess what — Hyperloop is now in design and under construction. It transports people and cargo between cities faster than a commercial plane. It can reach speeds over 700 mph. When it works, it is also very energy efficient.
Musk dubs Hyperloop “the fifth mode. “It would be as quick as a plane, cheaper than a train, and always ready in any weather. Plus, it wouldn’t emit any carbon.
Picture traveling from LA to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes. Or going from LA to Las Vegas in 20 minutes. Even better, how about New York to Philly in 10 minutes? Cities would become like metro stops. Borders would blur, housing prices would balance, and overcrowding would ease.
A dedicated team of engineers is hard at work at Hyperloop Technologies. Shervin Pishevar, an investor, and Brogan Bambrogan, who used to work at SpaceX, started the company.
I’m proud to be a founding board member. I’m with Shervin, Brogan, and Joe Lonsdale, the founder of Palantir and Formation 8. I’m also with Jim Messina, who led Obama’s campaign, and David Sacks from PayPal and Yammer.
Point-to-Point Aerial Transport
As alluded to above, some version of the flying car is coming. Three advancing technologies make this possible: high-capacity batteries, precision GPS for autonomous navigation, and durable yet lightweight materials.
The XPRIZE Foundation is launching a Transporter XPRIZE worth millions. Its goal is to drive progress in transportation.
Many companies are designing personal transportation machines. These machines will be able to take off and land vertically. Think about electric quadcopters that can carry people. Something you can step into and tell it, “Please take me to downtown LA.” It then lifts you and flies you 500 feet to your destination.
One company, Zee Aero, is rumored to be funded by Google. This flying car can take off and land straight up. It uses several small electric motors that spin four-bladed propellers. It is narrow enough to fit into a standard shopping center parking space.
Another design, the e-volo’s Volocopter (pictured above), is an electric two-passenger, 18-rotor vehicle.
I call these “flying cars” or “human-carrying multi-copters” for point-to-point transport. They are a mix between a personal jet pack and an autonomous, electric helicopter on demand.
They are a godsend for crowded cities. In Africa, many places have no usable roads, especially when it rains. In these locations, future Transporters will skip the copper-line phone system. They will go straight to wireless instead.
The future of transportation looks exciting! It will be faster, cheaper, safer, cleaner, and more fun.