Flying cars and starships look really cool in sci-fi flicks so people can't imagine the future without these cutting edge vehicles cluttering up the airspace above our cities.
Well, if you've always wanted to see flying cars take to the skies or rocket ships used as commercial air transport then you'll be happy to hear the wait is almost over, but first check out this super spacy water taxi known as Sea Bubbles:
Sea Bubbles made their debut on Paris' River Seine in summer of 2017 so their future is now:
Each individual Sea Bubble can hold up to five people, and can be accessed via special docks along the river. They are battery-powered, and have a 50-62 mile range at speeds of up to 20 mph. What’s particularly interesting about these vehicles is their ability to glide over the water surface, thus reducing friction with the water, and improving both its speed and range in the process. They do this by making use of two wings submerged below the water surface. When in motion, the Sea Bubble lifts up from the water, with only its two wings making contact. Because of this, the ride will be less bumpy as compared to ordinary boats, and there will be little to no waves generated. And because it is battery-powered, the Bubble is completely silent.
Now on to the fan favorite- flying cars. Uber and NASA have teamed up to make Uber Elevate, airborne taxis utilizing VTOL Vertical Take Off and Landing technology to fly people to their destinations and help with road congestion. But first some major changes to airspace management must be made:
NASA has been working on a project called Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System (UAS in the NAS) which aims to achieve just that. In a statement, Uber’s Chief Product Officer said that “Uber Elevate will be performing far more flights over cities on a daily basis than has ever been done before. Doing this safely and efficiently is going to require a foundational change in airspace-management technologies.”
And lastly we have the possible evolution of air travel- city-to-city rockets, allowing passengers to travel to any city in the world in a flash:
One such rocket would be able to transport 100 people from New York to Shanghai at speeds of 17,000 miles per hour and in just 39 minutes. It would, thus, take most people more time commuting to work every day than it would to travel half-way around the world.