Over the last twelve months, WIRED’s transport team has witnessed the birth of an airliner, the rebirth of a motoring icon, and the death of the human driver (well not quite). We spent the year uncovering the technology behind the trends shaping the future of how people move, and taking you behind the scenes at the companies and communities making that happen. To cap off 2016, here are eleven of our favorite video stories, showcasing everything from extreme street design to a shape-changing car, from a blind man “driving” to a truck hauling beer all by itself.
Putting a new plane to the test.
Getting a new plane ready for passengers is an elaborate affair. Before you’re allowed on board, airlines and regulators have to be 100 percent sure that the tube with wings willbe safe at 30,000 ft. For Boeing, that means its new 737 MAX, the latest member of the 737 family, has to be flown to the extremes of its performance capabilities: thus the shocking stunt flying. We climbed on board to have a look athow it’s done.
Planes still need pilotsbut not hands.
Happily, even the very latest planes don’t dispense with human pilots, yet. But we visiteda version of the future where it’s possible to fly an aircraft by thought alone. Honeywell Aerospace is working on Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology which reads a pilot’s intentions with the help of an electrode infused skullcap. As we discovered in a flight over Seattle, the system works. It won’t replace experienced pilots anytime soon, but it couldprovide new ways to interact with cockpit technology instead of switches or touchscreens.
Human drivers? Not so necessary.
The makers of driverless cars are racingto prove their systems are just about ready for the big time. Uber is running trials of autonomous ride-share vehicles for real passengers (not without some controversy). And Googlefinally decided its self-driving car division is finally ready to be spun off into a new company, Waymo. It’s so confident in its tech that it gave a blind man, Steve Mahan, the chance to ride around Austin by himself.It just let me be a whole person again, he says.
Trucks are ditching humans too.
If that’s not a good enough stunt to make you achefor a self-driving future, how about a beer? Or 50,000 beers?Autonomoustrucking company Otto (now owned by Uber) rigged a semiwith $30,000 worth of aftermarket sensorsand sent for a cruise down a Colorado freeway in Octoberwith the driver in the back of the cab.At least the world still needs humans to drink all that beer.
Let’s see them navigate this!
Driverless vehicles are proving they can handlepretty complicatedtraffic situations, but it’s the extremes that keep engineers up at night. The situations that even the most experienced human balks at, such as Swindon’s “Magic Roundabout.” This UKrotary is actually made up of seven circles, and drivers can choose which way round to navigate it. Traffic planners say it’s efficient. We say, let’s see an autonomous car handle this challenge.
Tesla took a lesson from 1980s TV.
Teslawas the first to introduce most people to the idea that driverless cars are ready now, not five years off, as automakers usually promise. Its autopilot system is really just advanced cruise control, but its cars are also capable of some low speed tricks, even without a driver inside. Elon Musk’s“Summon” feature lets owners move their cars in and out of garages or tight parking spaces using the key or a smartphone app as a remote. It also lets them pretend to be David Hasselhoff (wig, optional) in Knight Rider.
Where we’re going, we don’t need roundabouts.
There’s only one thing better than a self-driving car, and that’s a flying car, finally allowing us to live like the Jetsons. Good ol’ Uber, which in less than a decade has revolutionized the way we view cars in the city, is now eyeing the skies. In October, the company released a white paper detailing its idea for anetwork of electric flying cars thattake off and land vertically. It says that within five years (yup, it’s always five years) it expects to see electric levitating vehicles, capable of 100 miles of flying at 150 mph.
Desiging public transport for haters.
In the meantime, if you can’t go over the traffic, why not go under it? Take the subway, the tube, the metro. Whatever your city calls it, public transit is usually a good option for city dwellers. But it’s a nightmare for people who don’t like people. Designers to the rescue! BARTriders shuttling between San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area are enjoyingnew carriagesdesigned to maximize space and minimize eye contact before they’ve had their coffee.
Keeping track of your luggage.
Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, and that counts for flying economy,too. That trip home for the holidaysis all great until your gift-stuffed bag doesn’t arrive with you. Delta is using new bag tags to better track suitcases, and airlinesaround the world are deploying new strategiesto make sure your luggage doesn’t get lost. We went into the bowels of the airport to see what happens to your bag after you drop it off.
What do you get the driver who has everything?
Still need a special gift for that charged up driver in your life? Have more than$100,000 on hand? Forget Teslaand put in your order for a Karma Revero. Among the sea of companies new and established aimingto steal a piece of Tesla’s pie, Karma is based on an unusually retro approach. Built from the ashes of Henrik Fisker’s defunct FiskerAutomotive, Karma offersrebuilt car in a familiar and lovely package.We took it for the first test drive.
Still can’t decide on a new car?
Why settle for one car, when you can have an infinite number? The Blackbird is a motoring mimic. The motoring motion capture frame stretches to match the shape of just about any car, whose digital skin is added in post-production.This shape shifter, designed for movie and commercialdirectors, blurs the lines between virtual reality and the regular kind.
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/09/our-11-favorite-video-stories-from-the-world-of-transportation-in-2016/
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