I don’t know about you but where I live I can see taxi drivers avoiding me if I were waving one of these things in the air. The Taxi Hailer is a credit card sized device (though a bit thicker at 5mm) with a bright orange light that’s supposedly highly visible both day and night. The idea is to wave it around when you’re trying to hail a taxi since it increases the odds of a cab driver seeing you.
Using the device is dead easy with a simple on/off button and the light is claimed to run for at least 100 hours on 2 user replaceable lithium cell batteries. And if you’re the corporate type you can even order the Taxi Hailer branded with your company name and logo. Like I said before the cab drivers I usually deal with will probably be more likely to ignore me if I was waving this thing around but given the Taxi Hailer website uses images of Big Ben and such I suspect things might be different with London cabbies. From what I’ve heard they actually know where they’re going too.
The Taxi Hailer is available on their website for about $20.
Virgin Galactic, the company that successfully launched SpaceShipOne (with Scaled Composites) and is working on SpaceShipTwo (for which you can now book a 2009 flight at $200,000 a person, round trip of course), has entered into a joint venture of sorts with NASA to develop hypersonic commercial transport technology. Hypersonic generally refers to speeds of Mach 5+, or 3,500 - 4,000ish mph depending on altitude. That’s potentially London to New York in under an hour.
Virgin readily admits that hypersonic research isn’t something they’re cut out for. NASA, however, has already successfully tested their hypersonic scramjet powered X-43A up to Mach 10, and are working on expanding the program with hypersonic vehicles like the X-43B (concept shown above) and the X-51A. So in a nutshell (from the COO of Virgin Galactic): “We are interested in possibly paying for it. NASA is interested in researching it.”
As a past (and let’s hope, future) beneficiary of NASA grant money, I can say from experience that while NASA has the will, when it comes to the way, they’re notoriously stingy with research funding. Here’s hoping for my own corporate sponsor… Any British billionaires out there interested in Martian impact cratering?
If speed is your thing but Lockheed won’t let you buy one of their fighter jets then I can assure you the Acabion GTBO motorcycle is easily the next best thing. First off in terms of design the outer housing is essentially shaped like a bullet meaning you’re not going to find anything more aerodynamic that’s also capable of holding 2 persons. Secondly it’s powered by a 700 hp turbocharged engine which given the weight of the bike results in a power to weight ratio of 0.51kg per horsepower. That outdoes everything from the Bugatti Veyron to even Formula One cars. The best part though? Acabion claims this thing is actually street legal.
So what does all that power mean in terms of fun? Well the Acabion GTBO ‘70′ model can go from 0 to 258 mph in about 19 seconds. And it has a top speed of 265 mph at 200 hp with a governor. (Street legal does have its limitations.) Without the governor the GTBO ‘70′ will top out around 300 mph. (That’s almost 500 km/h for our metric readers.)
What’s even more impressive is that the GTBO is one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles out there, even when travelling at its ridiculous top speeds. Of course it’s not exactly ideal for making a grocery run given the lack of a trunk, but I’m sure most people will be able to overlook that issue.
Sadly, the chances of actually seeing a GTBO on the road are quite slim. The company only plans to build a total of 26 vehicles from 2007-2011. And if you want to be one of the lucky few to get your hands on one you’ll need to shell out about $720,000.
When it comes to commuting buses are definitely more versatile than trains but at the same time they’re also a lot slower. To get the best of both worlds the Hokkaido Railway Company (a division of Japan Railways I assume) started to develop a prototype vehicle way back in the year 2000 called the DMV or Dual Mode Vehicle. About the size of a small bus the DMV can carry 25 passengers but what makes it special is its ability to travel on either roads or rails since it has a set of both steel and rubber wheels. The idea is that the DMV can use existing rail infrastructures available in more developed areas and then switch to road travel for areas that are less densely populated.
The first DMV service is scheduled to begin by April of 2007. Although the ultimate goal of the DMV is transport in rural areas, the first application will be on a tourist route traveling round trip from Hamako-Shimizu to Mokoto along the Senmo Main Line on the northeast coast near Abashiri. During this trial period the DMV will go one way on track (11 km) and then return by meandering roads as a bus (21 km). The success of the DMV will be of great benefit to both JR Hokkaido and the declining rural population of the island. At present one third of JR Hokkaido?s routes are unprofitable, carrying less than 500 passengers a day. DMV service may save many thousands of residents from losing their rail transit while providing them with even more convenient ?door to door? service.
Japan is defintiely a world leader when it comes to efficient public transportation so hopefully this experiment will work out and eventually spread to other growing metropolitan centers around the world.
For those living lives so extreme that a jetski seems boring comes the Jetbike which is basically a motorcycle designed to skim across the water instead of asphalt. It uses the same propulsion system as a jetski does but that’s really where the similarities end. The Jetbike is far more aerodynamic providing a smoother ride on the water and also uses a unique dual steering system with an adjustable front ski and rear nozzle.
Of course the question everyone asks is how does the Jetbike not tip over when it’s stopped given how high it sits out of the water? Well the designers came up with a clever solution there. As the Jetbike slows to a stop the lower section actually fills with water causing the bottom portion of the craft to sink below the surface of the water. This changes its center of gravity making it impossible to tip when not moving. In addition the seat and handlebars sit just above the water line when stopped making the craft easier to get on and off of. Once you hit the throttle though the tanks are emptied and the Jetbike rises up out of the water again.
The Jetbike is custom built by the Aquajet Corporation for $14,995 with a $1,500 (10%) down payment at the time of ordering so I think I’ll just get one.
We like to think that the world would be a much duller place if it wasn’t for our friends in the Land of the Rising Sun. The list of mind-bendingly useless and ridiculous inventions that have come out of Japan over the last few years is too long to tally, and we couldn’t be happier. The video above shows you the latest, though we have precious little info. It’s a scooter, but it doesn’t run on wheels. Nor does it hover. It doesn’t float either.
Just watch the video, and you’ll get it. It’s worth a good laugh.
So it looks like that flying car we were all supposed to be driving by now is no where in sight. At least there’s not one in my driveway. Sure a couple of companies have taken a shot at designing one but in the end all we’re left with is broken dreams, empty promises and no flying cars.
But where large companies leave off, smaller independent inventors take over. Designing a safe flying car is quite an undertaking (translation: expensive) so Skyacht Aircraft Inc. decided to instead adapt a vehicle that was already tried and true. The Personal Blimp uses hot air instead of helium plus a new patented frame that keeps the envelope (balloon) rigid but can also be collapsed. So unlike those Goodyear chumps the Personal Blimp doesn’t need to be stored in an expensive hangar when not in flight.
Of course the Personal Blimp won’t be facilitating anyone’s morning commute but for recreational uses its slow and smooth flight characteristics makes it ideal even for those without a pilot’s license.
By Andrew Liszewski
Related Tags: Transportation, Unusual
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By Andrew Liszewski