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Archive for the ‘transportation’ category: Page 403

Oct 11, 2019

Lazareth LMV 496 Transforming Jet Hover Bike

Posted by in categories: computing, transportation

This is the Lazareth LMV 496, which the world’s first transforming flying electric motorbike.

Lazareth have a jet engine in the hub of each wheel, and hydraulic actuators that tilt the four wheels out and up, forming a configuration something like a jet-powered hoverbike.

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Oct 11, 2019

For $150,000 you can now order your own Hoverbike

Posted by in categories: engineering, law, transportation

Circa 2018


After first spotting this crazy looking motorcycle-styled hoverbike in early 2017, we were skeptical the contraption would ever move beyond just an odd engineering curiosity. However, Russian company Hoversurf has just revealed its hoverbikes are now ready for production and preorders are open, with delivery scheduled for sometime in 2019.

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Oct 9, 2019

Flight of an aeroplane with solid-state propulsion

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Circa 2018


Since the first aeroplane flight more than 100 years ago, aeroplanes have been propelled using moving surfaces such as propellers and turbines. Most have been powered by fossil-fuel combustion. Electroaerodynamics, in which electrical forces accelerate ions in a fluid1,2, has been proposed as an alternative method of propelling aeroplanes—without moving parts, nearly silently and without combustion emissions3,4,5,6. However, no aeroplane with such a solid-state propulsion system has yet flown. Here we demonstrate that a solid-state propulsion system can sustain powered flight, by designing and flying an electroaerodynamically propelled heavier-than-air aeroplane. We flew a fixed-wing aeroplane with a five-metre wingspan ten times and showed that it achieved steady-level flight. All batteries and power systems, including a specifically developed ultralight high-voltage (40-kilovolt) power converter, were carried on-board. We show that conventionally accepted limitations in thrust-to-power ratio and thrust density4,6,7, which were previously thought to make electroaerodynamics unfeasible as a method of aeroplane propulsion, are surmountable. We provide a proof of concept for electroaerodynamic aeroplane propulsion, opening up possibilities for aircraft and aerodynamic devices that are quieter, mechanically simpler and do not emit combustion emissions.

Oct 8, 2019

Elon Musk: Teslas Will Soon Make “Fart” and “Goat” Noises

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, humor, transportation

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a weak spot for potty humor.

First, the carmaker introduced a “fart app” for its electric vehicles, which generates rude bathroom sounds.

Now, Musk says Teslas will soon be getting “customized horn and movement sounds,”— including “goats” and “farts,” according to a emoji-laden Sunday tweet.

Oct 6, 2019

WEB EXTRA: Flying Taxi in Paris

Posted by in category: transportation

SeaBubbles, a ground-breaking flying taxi that operates on water, zoomed across the River Seine in Paris on Wednesday in a demo run.

Oct 4, 2019

This is how India can become the next Silicon Valley

Posted by in categories: government, transportation

If India can continue to develop its urban centres and promote a Silicon Valley spirit of entrepreneurship, it could be in a prime position to achieve global tech hub status. Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) in the south and Gurgaon in the north are two tech-savvy cities emblematic of India’s rapid urbanization. The country is set to become the largest contributor to the world’s urban population.


India has long branded itself as the world’s leading outsourcing destination for global companies, particularly for those in the technology sector — but in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the time is ripe for the world’s most populous country to reinvent itself.

There is a burgeoning start-up and innovation culture, as shown by the Global Innovation Index, where India has improved its ranking from 81 to 52 between 2015 and 2019. In addition, the country has improved its reputation in terms of the risk posed to foreign investments and, in 2019, ranked third in the world in terms of attracting investment for technology transactions.

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Oct 3, 2019

First-Ever Image of the ‘Cosmic Web’ Reveals the Gassy Highway That Connects the Universe

Posted by in categories: space, transportation

A groundbreaking new image provides direct evidence of a ‘cosmic web’ of gas that links every galaxy in the universe.

Oct 2, 2019

This could be the next gold mine for Tesla and other electric vehicles

Posted by in category: transportation

Charging stations will outnumber gas stations, and batteries will be better and cheaper.

Oct 2, 2019

Designer Dreams up Tesla Motorbike Despite Elon Musk’s Refusal to Create One

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Electric motorcycle and scooter design uses two or three wheel layouts outfitted with an electric motor and battery used for long distance travel, commuting and cruising.

an electric motorcycle concept based on dyson’s bladeless fans.

Oct 2, 2019

‘The next era of human progress’: what lies behind the global new cities epidemic?

Posted by in categories: business, economics, energy, government, sustainability, transportation

This new breed of city takes various different forms, from government initiatives, to public-private partnerships, to entirely private enterprises. Many are being used to jump-start economies in the developing world, with masterplans carefully calibrated to attract foreign investors and treasuries looking to sink their funds into something concrete. They provide a powerful means for wealthy countries to expand their strategic influence abroad, with the construction of new cities acting as a form of “debt-trap diplomacy”, tying host nations into impossibly burdensome deals. They are billed as a panacea for the world’s urban ills, solving overcrowding, congestion and pollution; yet, more often than not, they turn out to be catalysts for land dispossession, environmental degradation and social inequality.


The feature Kim enjoys most is a small touchscreen display on his kitchen wall that allows him to keep track of his and his wife’s consumption of electricity, water and gas and, most important, compare it against the average statistics for the building. Flicking between the screens of bar charts and graphs, a broad grin spreads across his face: for yet another day running, they are more energy-efficient than all their neighbours.

From their living room window at the top of one of the city’s new residential towers, a panorama of downtown Songdo unfolds. Across an eight-lane highway lies Central Park, a broad swath of trees surrounding an ornamental lake, flanked by rows of glass towers with vaguely jaunty silhouettes. Armies of identikit concrete apartment blocks march into the hazy distance beyond, terminating at a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. It looks a lot like many other modern Asian cities, a place of generic towers rising above a car-dominated grid. Public life is mostly confined to the air-conditioned environments of malls and private leisure clubs.

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