The Solar Rickshaw
Although rickshaws may seem like vehicles that were used centuries ago, pretty much every major city in the world still has some rickshaw-like automobiles. SolarLab from London decided to resurrect the rickshaw spirit and bring a modern and almost futuristic aspect to it: the solar power. Read more
What Would You Do With A 3,800 HP Jet Bike?
Everyday is the same day. You wake up, you take a shower and you drink a cup of coffee. You take the bus and go to work. But, what’s your neighbor doing? OMG! It’s that a 3,800 HP Jet Powered Motorcycle? Yes, it is. That’s pure madness from the designer called Mad Ron Laycock. Don’t think that this is a joke, just check out the pictures and you might be also interested in how this Jet Bike was built.
Mad V8 Bike via Jalopnik
Driver Wanted For The Land Speed Record Breaker
Do you have a driver license? Are you a speed maniac? Are you insane? If you answered yes, then you should consider a job as a driver of the North American Eagle jet car which is destined to break the land speed record for US which currently stands at about 800mph.
This jet car is powered by the engine of Lockheed’s F-104 Starfighter which unleashes 42,500 horsepower. For a ride you would need about $18,000 because the monster engine eats 160 gallons of fuel every minute. The future record breaking jet car was developed by Ed Shadle, former USAF pilot and amateur racer and Keith Zanghi, Boeing engineer.
The developrs are looking for a driver because they can’t attract sponsors because “my age is stopping us getting sponsors, we have to remove that barrier. We’ll put some hotshot in the driving seat who looks like Robert Redford and see how that works”, Shadle said.
As the race heats up for the most wanted driver seat, there are some details that you should fulfill – between 20 and 40 years old, photogenic, send a 400 words e-mail and a picture to show your good-looks to landspeedracing@gmail.com.
Mazda Taiki, Inspired By The Wind
How do you begin describing this… car? When I first came across a photo of this baby I just froze and stared at it for about 20 seconds. I loved Audi’s R8 concept, but the Mazda designers have truly outdone themselves with this one. Taiki means ‘atmosphere’ in Japanese.
Mazda declared the car as ‘a design that visually expresses the flow of air’ and you can tell that just by looking at the front and back of the vehicle. The finesse of the curves makes them almost intangible, and makes you feel like a breeze gently caressing every turn and shade of this beauty’s design.
Mazda Taiki is the fourth concept car in the Nagare design series and will be admired for the first time by the public at the 2008 Beijing International Motor Show, starting on April 20th.
Self Inflating Tires: A Must-Have
Although Coda’s Self Inflating Tires are still in the stage of development, it appears that this new system will be inevitably built in new made cars. It is made from only two elements, a peristaltic pump and a valve to stop over-inflation.
A peristaltic pump is a type of positive displacement pump that can pump a diversity of fluids or gases, and is activated by certain conditions of interaction. In this particular case, it will work as a tube integrated into the sidewall or the rims of the tires that will be compressed at the bottom, when the tire rolls, thus forcing the air into the tube. If the tire is already inflated at the right pressure, the valve closes.
The manufacturer stated that a mile of driving will be enough to cover the air normally lost in a month from the tires. Keeping them at the perfect pressure makes your car more safe, saves your time and is also an economical measure, as the tires suffer less damage and you won’t spend your money on buying a pump for the car. This new system seems to be another indispensable element of cars, like ABS, as any decent recently-made car has it.
Flashy Bike With Hidden Components
The Tong City Bike has integrated light tubes all along the body for safer biking at night, making it more visible to drivers than the ones with just the classic flashlight in front. Aside that, all the components that assure its functionality, like the shock absorbers, the brake system, drivetrain and gears are hidden inside the iron plates.
It also has a mini lockable safe, for storing your wallet or mobile phone. Rudi Moosmeier is the designer of this futuristic-looking Tong City Bike, and this could be the first bike you may say that has a hood.
The Pedal Boat Gets A Solar Panel
Here is one of the most interesting concept involving a boat. This yacht is perfect for a lake outing and is even better if you want to do some physical training. The boat has a very interesting power technique – human pedaling. The center console has enough pedals for two people that want to, you guessed, pedal.
Don’t think that if you get tired you will remain in the middle of the lake because a design company will provide a solar panel specially made for the boat. The solar panel will produce energy and the batteries will power an electric engine.
Check out the gallery below and see more of the pedal in the video below.
Sports Car Concept Looks Like A Go-Cart
Surfing through the internet I found a really interesting design for a car. Well, like its designer named Florian Dobe says that it’s a true sports car which looks and drives like a go-cart. The project should be finished by 2012 and most likely it will be a two-seater. The go-cart concept will feature 10-inch rims and will have an one-piece or seamless body acting like a sculpture. For the moment I am not sure whether to like it or not but I know that it’s going to be an interesting concept.
Traffic Cameras, Confuted by Study
A study conducted by the University of South Florida shows that red-light cameras are not as wondrous in fixing the traffic as we thought. Barbara Langland-Orban, professor and chair of health policy and management at the USF College of Public Health, stated that these cameras increase crashes and injuries probability as drivers try to abruptly stop at camera intersections.
Red-light cameras are used to take a snap-shot of a car’s license plate if the driver doesn`t stop at a red light. This study formulates the idea that drivers are paying more attention when cameras are not present, rather than when they are.
The cameras are often coupled with the shortening of the yellow light timing, to increase the number of tickets generated, as drivers think they have more time until the red light goes on.
Tribolis Yacht Can Be Controlled By Joystick
If you were to thinking to move out and live in another place, I think this is the perfect solution. This futuristic yacht concept called Tribolis will be perfect for you and your family. The UFO-like yacht can provide a very comfortable shelter for six people.
The Tribolis will be controlled with the help of a joystick which can rotate the yacht 360 degrees around its axis. The hull of the yacht concept will be made entirely from recyclable steel. Tribolis will feature photovoltaic panels in order to get energy and it will be powered by an electrical-hydrogen engine. You can buy it for only $4 million, but it’s a small price if want to travel all around the Earth.
DARPA Working On Five Year Flight Aircraft
DARPA continues with its ambitious projects and now is working on its Vulture program, which will be an unmanned aircraft. As they say, it will be capable of flying without stopping for five years and will also carry up to 1,000 pounds and will have an onboard power of 5kW.
The Vulture will be able to keep its speed even at powerful winds that will encounter at altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. It should improve communication capabilities working as a pseudo-satellite flying in the stratosphere and not low Earth orbit, as usual satellites.
Daniel Newman, manager of the Vulture program stated that they “want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft” and to demonstrate aircraft capabilities. “Aviation has a perfect record – we’ve never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record.”
Yet they are only at the project phase, because they aren’t sure what energy cycle to use, having three possibilities. The first one, nuclear power, has been excluded due to risks. Another possible one is in-flight refueling and the aircraft would use fuel-cells, being more reliable than gas-turbine and internal-combustion engines. The third one is solar thermal or solar energy, along with the most possible one – solar electric – which is a tested and proven technology.
U.S. Might Upgrade Its Transport Technology
The idea of high-speed traing is beginning to take shape in the mind of the U.S. Congress. A project of a magnetically levitating train which could transport tourists from Las Vegas to Disneyland looks very promising, but also the DesertXpress could be one of the future technology in U.S. transport.
According to Alan Wapner, member of Ontario, California, City Council, the U.S. should improve their transportation: “what all of this shows is that there’s certainly a need for high-speed rail, an interest in high-speed rail. We’re finally getting the attention” and he added “it’s time the United States wake up and realize that we need to develop alternative technologies”.
From two trains, one MagLev and the other diesel-electric DesertXpress, they should choose at least one to transport the 10 million Southern Californians that travel about 300 miles to Las Vegas every year. These projects have only one drawback – they need funding – about $3 billion to $5 billion for DesertXpress, respectively $12 billion for the MagLev and the majority of the money would come from private financing.
Hi-Tech Cameras Which Count Persons In A Car
At the Loughborough University, U.K., Professor John Tyrer is developing a new camera which has the ability to count the passengers in a car. This new technology aims to play the key role in the reduction of traffic congestion on UK’s roads. It can count how many passengers are in car by detecting water and blood content.
Reports say that four out of five cars which are cruising during rush hour are transporting one person and the British government is trying to convince people to share their cars and go to work together. Currently the camera is monitoring the cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and North Somerset.
In my opinion this is a crazy idea which will not bring anything good because they can’t make someone to do something against their will. Everybody is free to do and go to work whenever and however they want.
Hypersonic Airplane To Be Ready In 25 Years
Reaction Engines, a British company located in Oxfordshire, is the happy designer of the A2 aircraft which could transport passenger with a hypersonic speed. They say that the plane will fly from Europe to Australia in less than five hours and that it will transport about 300 people at a top speed of 3,800 mph.
This plane could have its debut in 25 years, it will measure about 143m and it will run on liquid-hydrogen – engine provided also by Reaction Engines. The hypersonic speed hasn’t been reached within out planet’s atmosphere but it could be achieved by the A2 because they plan to propel the aircraft with twice the speed of Concorde.
We can only wish them luck, but sure we are waiting for their concept to become a reality faster than 25 years.
MagLev Hybrid Bus Put Into Service In Japan
Japan is known for the most technologically advanced country and it hasn’t disappointed us until now and neither they did this time. Their MagLev technology is revolutionary and now they started using it for public transportation in towns, by developing MagLev buses. Until now, only one bus has been put in use and it has 60% lower carbon emissions, being a hybrid vehicle. The other countries should also follow Japan’s example, which uses the most advanced technologies, but makes them environmental-friendly.