If you saw the movie, 2 Fast 2 Furious, there were a couple of scenes where cars pursued by police were stopped by a giant dart that disabled the electronics and the car just shut off. Well, a scientist out in LA has come up with a microwave system that transmits enough targeted energy to disable a vehicle, after which it rolls to a stop. Since there is no actual giant dart … [Read more...]
Naro car and Aprilia Magnet
Here are two concepts that are absolutely neat. The first is the Naro car, which is a four wheel two seater. The seats are in tandem and the riders are seated higher than a car, eye height is the same as a Honda Blackbird and the width is just enough to enclose the mirrors of the same bike. Because it is high and narrow, it must lean in the turns like a motorcycle. Several … [Read more...]
Future transportation – looks like today
An interesting post over at Marginal Revolution notes that predictions of future transportation always have a lot of "gee whiz" yet when we finally arrive at the time of the predictions, things look a lot like they were. Is it steady progress that makes the changes seem small or are things really not changing much? Motorcycles and cars are faster, more powerful, more fuel … [Read more...]
Hydrogen engines
Yesterday's post about engines led to a comment by Doug Staab who wondered what a hydrogen engine would sound like. Well, it might sound a lot like the engines we already run. Some college students, way back in 1972, converted a Gremlin to run on hydrogen and the engine they used was a transplanted Boss 351 from Ford. The exhaust was water vapor and it actually was cleaner than … [Read more...]
Great minds think alike
Am I psychic or what? Yesterday I suggested an X prize for other technology and now they are starting multiple X prizes. You can even suggest the categories. Hmm... imagine the possibilities. … [Read more...]
X prize
How about an X prize for motorcycles or cars? Now that the X prize has been won, everyone is talking about how it stimulated private development of space flight technology. But what about technology we use all the time? A hydrogen car for instance, was built by a teacher and his students. What might we get if there was real money involved? … [Read more...]