Stuck in a traffic jam and about to be late
for work, who hasn't dreamt of a way to get somewhere by skirting all the unnecessary
chaos? Hmm, right now, there seems to be no way to
avoid traffic congestion. But in less than 10 years, you're likely to
forget what that is! Urban Air Mobility experts predict that one
day, your way to work will take minutes instead of hours thanks to air taxi. But the best news is that it may happen way
sooner than you thought, around 2023 - 2025! And by 2040, you won't remember the days when
you couldn’t get anywhere by air. The surprising truth is that most technologies
needed for creating air taxis are already here. Even more, today there are already air taxi
prototypes and test vehicles! They look like drones, but way bigger. The engineers of these flying machines state
that they're going to be less harmful to the environment than the fuel-powered cars we
use today. Flying taxis will move with the help of either
hybrid or electric engines, which are said to produce fewer carbon emissions. Besides, the new air vehicles are likely to
be quieter, more efficient, and cheaper than modern aircraft. On the other hand, there are still a lot of
things to be done. For example, the batteries, which are supposed
to power the flying electric cars, must be developed further so that they can last longer. The companies responsible for these new technologies
are currently pooling data and developing artificial intelligence that will be able
to control air traffic. And it’ll be a challenge, what with thousands
of drones, air taxis, and other flying gadgets up in the air. On top of that, flying taxis won't appear
before several changes are made. First, this new type of transport has to go
through a special certification process. Secondly, hundreds of heliports and helipads
must be built all over the world. All these numerous flying taxis will need
pilots who’ll have to be trained. Or they’ll have to invent driverless technology. Also, people will need a new safety system
that’ll control the airspace and prevent flying cars from crashing into one another. And finally, future passengers will have to
believe that flying taxis are safe to use. And even though flying taxis still seem to
be a thing from the future, some experts have already tried to estimate an approximate cost
of the upcoming trips. For example, you'll have to spend about $43
on a transfer from San Jose to San Francisco. Do you think that’s a reasonable price for
the possibility to avoid rush hour by traveling through the air? Tell me about your opinion in the comment
section below! However, the flying taxi isn't the only change
you’re going to see in transportation in the next decade or so. One of the most spectacular innovations might
be the Hyperloop. This is a futuristic transport system which
consists of tubes that shoot pod-like capsules between stations. Due to a special design, the speed of these
capsules can reach a whopping 500 to 800 miles per hour. That means that it’d take you just about
half an hour to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco! Apparently everyone wants to go to San Francisco,
huh? One of the companies that’s developing the
Hyperloop has already built a 1-mile-long subscale track. They say that by the mid-2020s, three brand-new
Hyperloops may carry passengers for the first time. And by the year 2050, this way of traveling
to your destination will be nothing out of the ordinary. If you're heading somewhere on your own in
2025, you'll most likely use a giant, autonomous drone, capable of transporting one passenger. But the most amazing thing is that such drones
already exist! For example, one machine created by a Chinese
drone company is about 5 ft tall, weighs 440 pounds, and can transport a load of up to
220 pounds. It's powered solely by electricity, and currently,
the maximum time of a trip is 23 minutes. The passenger drone can fly as high as 11,000
ft, and its speed can reach an impressive 62 miles per hour. To get a ride from point A to point B, you
just need to enter the locations into a special smartphone app. Then you can relax and let the drone do the
rest of the work. You also don't have to waste time looking
for a gas station. The drone can fully charge from an electrical
outlet in a mere two hours. (Hey have you ever been to Point A? I mean a town really named Point A? Maybe you’d find Point A in Canada. You know, Point Eh? Just wondering… ) Now, even if you have a good old car in 2025,
the chances are very high that it’ll be autonomous. That means you won't have to keep your hands
on the steering wheel - the car will do all the driving for you. I can’t wait. It's a popular belief that robotic drivers
think and react faster than us humans. On top of that, such AI can analyze what's
happening in all directions at once. I don't know whether it's true or not. What I know though, is that today, there are
already quite a few self-driving cars on the roads. They can detect buildings, change speed depending
on the situation, look for exit ramps, and interact with other cars. However, some experts say that in 10 years,
people will already be past the point of self-driving cars. Instead, you’ll own an inexpensive steel
box on magnetic levitation and control it by using an app on your smartphone. On the other hand, there’s a project which
suggests creating an entire transport network of pods, which can seat one person at a time,
and move along pre-described routes. The human operator will control the pod with
the help of a touchscreen embedded in the windshield. First, you'll select your destination, (hey
let’s start at Point A in Canada) and after that, during the trip, you'll be able to read
the news, play a video game, or check your e-mail. You won't have to control the pod, and it
will show your current location and the route on the screen. And finally, it probably goes without saying
that in each pod, there’ll be a wireless hotspot, and you'll be able to use the Internet
on all your gadgets. But let's return to cars as you know them
today. Instead of owning a car, in 5 or 10 years,
you're likely to use fleet-based services. Fewer and fewer vehicles will rest in people's
garages, and it’ll change a lot of things for the better. For example, problems with limited parking
places or traffic jams will become less acute. Besides, keep in mind that in a couple of
years, you probably won't have to drive at all, what with all these self-driving vehicles. That's why new services will be able to accommodate
all kinds of needs. Let's say, you'll summon a car with a bed
late at night or a car with a desk on your way to work when you need to finish a presentation. But what if you need to travel a much greater
distance than the way from your office to your home? Don't worry, sometime around 2040, you'll
be able to have a hypersonic plane ride! These aircraft will fly at incredible heights,
and their speed is likely to be 5 times the speed of sound, which will make it about 3,800
miles per hour! Traveling from New York to London, in this
case, will take less than two hours. For comparison, these days, it takes a conventional
airplane 8 hours to fly from one of these cities to the other. Unfortunately, all this hypersonic air travel
will have a small catch. The price of a ride on such a plane will be
exorbitant, hefty, ridiculous – take your pick --at least at first. By the way, you might not recognize a plane
from 2045. These flying machines will keep changing for
the next several decades. And the chances are high that at some point,
windows will start to disappear from airplanes altogether. This way, aircraft will become stronger and
better suited for high speeds. But the most amazing prediction about the
future of Earth’s transport system is that by 2045, there might be jumbo skyscrapers
which will serve as spaceports. The thing is that some buildings in the future
may be constructed of carbon-based materials, which will make them super-strong. As a result, the height of skyscrapers could
increase up to 20 miles! And the roofs of these mammoth constructions
will turn into spaceports. Hey, if you learned something new today, then
give the video a like and share it with a friend! And here are some other videos I think you'll
enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay
on the Bright Side of life!
