In the year 2020, I see myself as a transportation engineer. I find ways to have more efficient transportation means. I make transportation planning models, route assignment and trip distribution so that traffic flow can be moderated. I would be a transportation engineer, but focusing on air transportation.
I see flying cars, trains and buses. It would be like transportation on land, but only in the air. It would minimize traffic. These cars and trains would have invisible tracks/mini air tunnels to follow so that they would still be organized. I imagine the sky to be full of invisible tubes. These tubes in the air wouldn’t be seen by the people below so that they could still enjoy the sun, rain and snow. I imagine the light, for example, to hit the air tunnel, go around it, and then go back to its original passage. To further explain my idea, please refer to the figure below.
STEALTH F-117A, a stealth jet fighter, has a special paint coated on it so that it cannot be detected by radar signals. Just like the jet, the air tunnels would have a coat of special colorless paint that would deflect the particles (e.g. light, water, air), making the motion of light in the picture above possible. These particles wouldn’t appear to be hitting the tunnels, but appear to be just sliding right through it. This would give people the illusion that there is nothing up there.
I will also have the tunnels covered with mirrors all around it to perfectly reflect the sky. This would be coated with my special paint so that the illusion of having nothing there would be complete.
According to an article in ABC news, scientists predict that in 25 years, we would already have flying cars. Paul Moller invented the M-400 Skycar. It would be able to fly at up to 300 mph. He’s developing a computer-controlled system so that “the driver would become a passenger”.
There are already a lot of prototypes for flying cars. But I have yet to see a design that would allow a car to operate both on the road and in the air. It is possible for a program to be installed in the car that would control the status of the car: whether in the air or on land. I see cars that no longer have steering wheels, pedals, and gear stick. The driver would “drive” the car by just pushing buttons on a wide flat screen in front of him. If Paul Moller would be successful with his computer-controlled system, cars could even be auto-driven.
Every car would have an internet activation before they fly into the air. This would enable the car to connect to the main system and give it a free (unused) “air tunnel” to use. The main system keeps track of all air tunnels and flying cars so that no one would collide on each other and also to regulate allowed speed. Our policemen need not worry about people who violates traffic regulations. The main system controls the range of velocity allowed to the car. Also, they need not worry about drunk driving. Being inside the air tunnels, there would be no possibility of losing control of the car, or bumping to other cars. Driving couldn’t be any safer and easier than this.
Just like cars, it’s also possible, though maybe harder, to have flying trains. These trains would be like flying worms in the sky. We don’t have to pay expensive tickets and wait at the departure area for a long time to ride an airplane. All we need to pay for is gas. By having transportation on water, land and air, we would have smoother traffic flow. It would also be easier and more affordable to reach the other side of the world with just a flying car. It would not only be in movies. It would be reality.
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Hi Margot,
Excellent revision. I especially like the idea of “invisible tracks/mini air channels” or “air tunnels” on/through which these futuristic vehicles will travel. I get the general idea that the internet will help the driver plan out what allowable routes he can take, since the transportation engineer will have to map out the air highways. Probably the only aspect you have to develop is how it can be possible to render all that air traffic invisible to people on the ground.
Hi Margot,
Please do the following:
1. Edit your work for a few grammatical errors still remaining.
2. On the idea of invisible air tunnels, please note that the Stealth special paint makes the jet nearly invisible to radar detection, not to vision. You may have to rethink this, or look for other authorities on how to make the air tunnels not just invisible, but also porous as well (to allow precipitation to pass through them).
Thanks.
Hi Margot,
I forgot to mention that you might want to check out the link that Steph has to the Popular Mechanics article on “Introducing the Airplane of the Future.”
Thanks.