Electric power flight!

 Still early days?

There are many designs and concepts out there and the few that are operating are still classed as very unstable and dangerous, but as time moves on better engines will be developed and some aircraft will make it to the civil market on the air taxi scale two-four passengers?

Embraer is leading the way with the possibility of commercial aircraft within the next ten years, while several others are moving into combination powered aircraft, just like hybrid automobiles, but the development of new lighter carbon materials is opening the door for some serious models to come to the fore?

Meanwhile the drone is now at its current height of being militeriesed, as seen in the Ukraine on both sides, but they have limited range still and one is only seeing old NATO models being used on the battlefield, rather than anything that is really new.

The future may see drones being used as AI driverless cars in the future and that will be something of a change?

Next Generation Electric!

 Better transport Requirements?

This new generation of electric vehicles brings with it great promises of better things and yet Tesla is still having driverless collisions and fatalities?

But design and electrical improvements with docking stations are becoming more popular in England and Wales, but for some what we have and is to come is still not enough and one would have to agree that every petrol station should have a docking facility!

Trucks and buses are now very much to be seen across the country and more are on the way with hydrogen gas and electric on a par with each other in mixed fleets, even rail is starting to adapt to the option of gas powered trains alongside battery ones.

Driverless Vehicles!

 Sooner than Later?

We already have driverless metro's, and various Monorail and tram systems such as here in the U.K. with the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) and the not so new system employed at Heathrow International airport.

But with continued experimentation continuing in the United States and Japan, the car and truck is coming soon? A few teething issues remain and the possibility of a slower Motorway speed limit might be for dedicated lanes and safer infrastructure in case of a collision?

Escaped cattle and other farm animals remain a problem in many part of the world, apart from desperate humans trying to cross busy roads for all sorts of reasons?

The Electric Train!

Japanese Technology Applied?

Battery trains are nothing new, they have been operating on the London underground since 19th Century electrification was introduced. Meanwhile the Electric Multiple unit or overhead electrics, apart from third rail has been in service since the 1920's.

But the concept of an Electric train running on non electric lines is a new concept that will see it applied in the urban environment over the next twenty years and this may also be combined with driverless trains? 

Much new technology is being applied each year to the British rail network, thus the hike in train fares? Internet fibre caballing is the latest feature to hit the headlines, but it is a side track to what is really being planned and that is the phasing out of all old locomotives by 2020!

Early success with long life lithium batteries and solar-panels is proving effective, so the demand for cleaner air in our large towns and cities is driving this concept forward!

Farm Machinery. Two.

Sophistication and the Robotic Age?

Most of the new machines of various type coming on to the market are now built for one role, thus the days of the common tractor may be coming to an end? Over the last one-hundred and fifty years the need for labourers has gone down from 50 to 5 on most farms.

The steam engine began the mechanised decline and this was followed by the ever increasing size of the fields in Europe. Today we are entering the driver less car and soon the farm machine will follow, with the operator working from the laptop in their home.

What started off as a game, will soon become a reality in robotic farming. What of the machines, well perhaps all will be repaired by themselves, even cutting out humans? But the updating and programming will remain a human intervention for some time yet?

Stagecoach to Automobile.

The design of the Car.

The origins of the motorcar began with a steam version of the stagecoach minus horses, but it was not popular at least 60 years before the car was conceived? The public in London were scared of this way ahead concept, because it sometimes ran out of control.

Today the car has not changed in its layout since 1890, various chassis and body shells expanded it from a four seats to seven, anything after that is considered to be a mini-bus. Fast cars have come and gone, engines, materials have changed and improved? While fuels have moved from steam to petrol, diesel to LPG and now we are entering the age of electric, bio and hydrogen?

Cars without drivers in the idea of the Android is being developed, but the design of these new types are still based on the original layout? Perhaps some bright spark might come up with a round car in this new field, so people can relax and rest in the open planned vehicle?