THE TECH-LICIOUS: FUTURE TRANSPORT

Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!

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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With all of the talk circulating around about self-driving cars, did 
you really think you’d see the day when we really started using them? 
Indeed, even with all of the technology at our hands today, an 
autonomous vehicle seems like such a lofty concept. It’s so hard to 
imagine everything we’ve come used to associating with vehicles, such as
 steering wheels and rear view mirrors, possibly being replaced with a 
small button labeled “stop/go”. And I guess something else besides 
getting your driver’s license will have to become a rite of passage when
 kids (at least in the U.S.) turn 16 years-old – since the cars will be 
doing a heck of a lot more work than the “driver”. That does bring up an
 interesting point – will Driver’s Education classes remain the same? 
Will we still have to know every rule of the road before we get behind 
the wheel that no longer exists? Something tells me Driver’s Ed. might 
get a little bit easier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All that to say that self-driving vehicles will take over the roads before you know it, and starting in January of 2015,<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28551069" target="_blank"> they will be allowed on the public roads of the U.K.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-17783 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/unnamed.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="359" src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/unnamed.jpg" style="display: inline;" width="640" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The U.K. Government recently announced that they’d like 3 different 
cities to host a self-driving vehicle contest of sorts, to help get this
 whole autonomous vehicle thing up and running.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In case you’re wondering how a car can drive itself, they take full 
advantage of LIDAR technology (light detection and ranging) to get an 
accurate depiction of their surroundings on the road. They also use 
existing cruise control and lane assistance as well as acceleration and 
braking assistance. However, it’s expected these “assistances” will move
 more to the forefront down the road, with human drivers doing less and 
less.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you think? Does this news about self-driving cars excite you 
at all? Let us know your thoughts regarding this story in the comments 
section below!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">SOURCE-<a href="http://news.filehippo.com/2014/08/self-driving-cars-will-soon-fill-u-k-roads/" target="_blank">TECH-BEAT </a></span></span></div>
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Self-Driving Cars Will Soon Fill Up U.K. Roads!

With all of the talk circulating around about self-driving cars, did you really think you’d see the day when we really started using them...

Elytron 2S: The out-of-the-box tiltrotor concept

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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="A Elytron 2S (shown here in a proposed seven-seater version) is a tiltrotor aircraft that ..." height="359" src="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/elytron.jpg" width="640" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">Some people are never satisfied. You give them a plane, and they say it can’t hover. You give them a helicopter, and they say it can’t fly very high or fast. Looking to combine the advantages of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, Elytron Aircraft LLC of Mountain View, California is developing the Elytron 2S, a small tiltrotor aircraft that uses a </span>box wing configuration<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">and is aimed at the civilian market.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Airplanes and helicopters do well in their respective aeronautical niches. Airplanes can fly high, fast, far, and carry heavy loads, while helicopters can hover, fly backwards, land and take off vertically, and maneuver in very tight spaces. The tricky thing is when jobs arise where requirements overlap; like an airplane that can land vertically, or a helicopter than can fly at high altitude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Though there have been some aggressive development projects in recent years, such as the Bell V-280, the AugustaWestland Project Zero andAW609, the only operational manned, prop-driven aircraft that manages this sort of hybrid flight is the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In service with the US Marine Corps and the air forces of the US, Japan and Israel, the military tiltrotor spent many years in controversial development and, to this day, no civilian version has taken off. This is unfortunate because early visions of tiltrotor aircraft saw them employed as air taxis, short haul transports, and in other civilian applications.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Elytron 2S is a new take on tiltrotor configuration that incorporates an unconventional wing design to create a hybrid aircraft with greater performance – especially in the difficult transition between vertical and horizontal flight. One of a family of aircraft developed by the Elytron company over the past decade, the 2S is intended to combine the features of a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft, with the company seeing applications for emergency medical services, search and rescue, air taxis, and oil exploration.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/elytron-s2-tiltrotor-civilian-aircraft/33036/pictures#7" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1e8dd7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="The designs for the Elytron 2S technology demonstrator (left) and a seven-seater version f..." src="http://images.gizmag.com/inline/elytron-6.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="530" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Comparing the 2S to the Osprey, the most obvious difference is its wing configuration, known as Prandtl's box wing design. It looks exotic and futuristic, but it’s actually a variation on a wing concept that dates back to the earliest days of aviation when it was used by the pioneer flyer Louis Bleriot in 1906. It has also been used more recently by Lockheed Martin for one of its concept jets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">2S’s design uses two pairs of wings. One pair is set forward on the fuselage and is swept back. A second pair is set on top of the tail and swept forward. The tips of the fore and aft wings are linked by winglets, forming a skewed box. With this layout the forces are distributed through the box structure, making it stronger and lighter. It also provides a high aspect ratio for greater lift of about 15 percent over conventional wings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This results in greater fuel efficiency and less weight. In addition, the box wing is more stable, has better glide ratios and is less prone to stalling. In all, this makes Prandtl's box wing very suitable for short take-off and landing craft. The stall factor is particularly important because it helps keep the 2S in the air during the vertical to horizontal flight transition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So far, this is unusual, but not unprecedented. According to Elytron, the novel bit about the 2S is the extra pair of rotating wings mounted amidships, which contain the motors and props. The rotary wings, called "proprotors," are powered by two 90-degree gearboxes and are mounted on a single, centrally-mounted tilt wing that travels through 100 degrees and has four control surfaces.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/elytron-s2-tiltrotor-civilian-aircraft/33036/pictures#6" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1e8dd7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="The Elytron 2S is the extra pair of rotating wings mounted amidships, which contain the mo..." src="http://images.gizmag.com/inline/elytron-5.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="529" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Elytron says that this arrangement inside the box wing obviates interference with the proprotors’ thrust, while the winglets protect against rotor strikes. Because the proprotors can drop to the horizontal for forward flight, the blades don’t have the disadvantage of helicopter rotors where the retreating side of the rotors slows the craft and introduces unwanted torque. The design of the proprotors is much less complicated than a helicopter rotor with no need to angle or feather the rotors, so the linkages are simpler and their fewer parts are spread out through the wing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">According to Elytron, the result of all this is low drag at high speed in a craft that can fly two to three times the speed of an equivalent helicopter and, if the V-22 is an example, it will have a higher operating ceiling. It’s also safer because its glide ratio means that the rotors don’t need to autorotate during an emergency landing. If that doesn't work. Elytron says it will install a ballistic parachute.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Elytron 2S is a two-seater technology demonstrator built using fast prototyping with carbon composite materials. The company says that it plans to install a 450 bhp turbocharged race engine in the 2S with the goal of conducting flight tests next year. If successful, the next phase will include building a seven-seater version for commercial use. In the meantime, the 2S is on display at the Oshkosh Airshow through August 3.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">SOURCE-<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/elytron-s2-tiltrotor-civilian-aircraft/33036/" target="_blank">GIZMAG</a></span></div>
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Elytron 2S: The out-of-the-box tiltrotor concept

Some people are never satisfied. You give them a plane, and they say it can’t hover. You give them a helicopter, and they say it can’t fl...

Check Out Israel’s Hover Cars!

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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It seems like wherever you go, the public transportation system is a 
little boring and routine. You’ve got your subways, buses, taxis, etc., 
without all that much variety. I’ve never really been too excited to 
ride the bus – I was excited the first time I rode on a subway in New 
York City, but that excitement died down pretty quickly after I rode car
 after car after car. And the rats in between the tracks – yeah, they 
didn’t do too much for me either. Even though most public transportation
 here in the United States is a bit stagnant, Israel’s getting ready to 
try out something that I think can give public transportation the 
facelift it needs: <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/57224-israel-to-test-worlds-first-hover-cars.html" target="_blank">hover cars</a>.
 That’s right, everyone – hover cars. They look a little like subway 
cars, but they basically “hang” in the air with the aid of magnetic 
tracks. <img alt="Check Out Israel's Hover Cars!" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-16986 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014-06-25-image-4.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="531" src="http://news.filehippo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014-06-25-image-4.jpg" style="display: inline;" width="708" />
 Skytran (a company from NASA) is getting ready to build a pilot loop 
that will stretch for 500 meters at Israel’s Aerospace Industries. If 
(and when) this is successful, there are plans to build a much larger 
“track” in Tel Aviv. Passengers will be able to request a hover car with
 their smartphone and they’ll also be able to input destination 
information. Eventually, Skytran hopes these cars will travel at speeds 
of up to 149 MPH. I don’t know about you, but I think this could really 
make the morning and evening commute to and from work all that more fun 
of an experience. Skytran hopes to be up and going in its test phase by 
the end of 2015. What do you think? Let us know you thoughts regarding 
this story in the comments section below!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">SOURCE-<a href="http://news.filehippo.com/2014/07/check-israels-hover-cars/" target="_blank">TECH BEAT</a></span></div>

Check Out Israel’s Hover Cars!

It seems like wherever you go, the public transportation system is a little boring and routine. You’ve got your subways, buses, taxis, etc...