Category: Transport Tech

Romanian tech firm Onyx Beacon is teaming up with the local authorities in Bucharest to install 500 iBeacon devices on buses across the metropolis. It’s hoped that the new Smart Public Transport (SPT) initiative will make the city safer and more accessible for the estimated 12,000 visually impaired citizens who live there. While many of us take the act of hopping on or off a bus for granted, for those with eyesight problems it can be both difficult and dangerous. Through the installation of the Enterprise Beacons – fitted to…

Read More

For Navy pilots who land jets on aircraft carriers, life is tough. First, there’s the bit about touching down at precisely the right time and position to have the tailhook catch the arresting wire and bring you to a stop before the runway—all 300 feet of it— runs out. And then there’s the fact flight decks don’t stay still. They heave and sway with the sea. In the seconds before touchdown, a pilot typically makes hundreds of small changes to his trajectory. The US Navy says new tech could make…

Read More

Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes? In August, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced his vision for Hyperloop, a levitating train that would shoot through a low-pressure, above-ground tunnel at 760 mph. Musk is famous for futuristic transit, such as his electric car company Tesla Motors and commercial space travel business SpaceX. But he has no intention of building a functional Hyperloop. His aim was to generate buzz with the idea, in the hope that others would develop and build it. The technology itself is old news. In 1972,…

Read More

BMW ConnectedDrive provides drivers with a variety of services and apps for in-vehicle entertainment, information and safety. As the name suggests, the system is rooted in connectivity and, working with Deutsche Telekom, BMW is bumping up those capabilities to include high-speed LTE, a Wi-Fi hotspot and the new eSIM. eSIM technology is being touted as a replacement for the traditional SIM card that’s at the heart of your smartphone. It’s used to establish a high-speed LTE connection inside the vehicle. This, in turn, powers a password-protected Wi-Fi hotspot that can provide internet…

Read More

The Japanese regional railway JR Kyushu has become the first company in Japan to build a luxury sleeper cruise train, spending close to 3 billion yen (US$29.9 million). The Seven Stars cruise train comes equipped with the latest motion control technology, 14 luxury guest rooms, two deluxe suites, three presidential suites, a lounge car, dining car and bar. “The idea for a cruise train came from our company president, Mr. Koji Karaike,” Simon Metcalfe from JR Kyushu tells Gizmag. “It was something that he had dreamed of doing since he…

Read More

There are a good many ways to get from the train station to work in motor-assisted style, including folding bikes or scooters and one wheelers orskateboards, but last mile transport choices are not so plentiful if your journey includes zipping through dirt tracks and forest trails. Poland’s Jack Skopinski, the force behind the EV4 tilting electric quad we covered last year, has come up with a stand-up contender for the off-road-with-ease crown – some electric off-road rollers with rubber tracks. Skopinski says that his so-called “off-road rollerblades” were designed and built in response to customer demand for personal…

Read More

Personal electric VTOL (vertical take off and landing) commuting may not be far off, thanks to accelerating improvements in battery technology. Joby Aviation has put forward an incredible two-seater plane concept that uses 12 tilting electric propellers to provide multirotor-style balanced VTOL capabilities. Once it reaches cruising speeds, these rotors fold away into aerodynamic bullet shapes, and the aircraft can reach speeds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h) and ranges of up to 200 miles using four additional cruise-optimized props on the backs of the wings and tail fins.…

Read More

Over the past few years, the world has gotten to know some pretty cool electric vehicles: ludicrously quick Teslas, solar-powered planes, sport bikes with Italian styling. To add to the pile, Nissan now introduces the BladeGlider, a Zeus juice-powered razor blade on four wheels. Released in Rio de Janeiro this week, the prototype version of a concept Nissan first showed in 2013 is a 268-horsepower sports car with a heart of green, powered by a 220kW lithium-ion battery. The BladeGlider comes with rear-hinged dihedral doors (because conventional openings have no…

Read More

One of the biggest limitations of electric buses is range. Now, though, a US company has eked out over 250 miles (402 km) from one of its electric buses. The Proterra Catalyst XR is said to afford the best efficiency rating ever for a 40-ft (12-m) transit bus, at 22 mpg (12.8 l/l00 km) equivalent. Electric buses are already in use in, or due to roll out to, a number of major cities around the world, including Gothenburg and London. Despite this, the technology is still relatively embryonic and so continues to be…

Read More