 Flying wings,
cars that drive themselves and vast floating cities ... Robert Wilson examines
some of the ways in which we'll move from points A to B in the next century
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- IN the new millennium you will probably
still walk as you do today, but every other form of transport is ready
to be revolutionised by new technology in computers, materials or propulsion.
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- Jumbo jets carrying 800 passengers are
already on the drawing-board (or rather the computer-assisted design screen),
300km/h trains are now running and a cruise liner able to carry almost
4000 holiday-makers will set sail in autumn next year.
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- New Clean Cars Almost Here
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- Motorists, meanwhile, will be cocooned
in bubble-shaped machines that carry them along pre-determined tracks without
the need to steer or change gear.
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- The death of the car has been predicted
for 25 years, since the oil crisis of 1973, but only now are the heirs
to the conventional engine going on sale. The impact of conventional cars
on global warming and the likelihood of the world's oil supplies becoming
scarce in 50 years' time, at most, have prompted a rush for alternatives.
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- The first decades of the new century
are likely to see a wave of bi-fuel cars hitting showrooms. These are cars
that can run on both petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG). Bi-fuel systems
are nothing new ask any taxi driver. They have been around for more than
20 years, but most now use liquid petroleum gas (LPG), an oil by-product.
CNG is both more abundant and cleaner burning than LPG.
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- General Motors in the US offers the EV1
electric car to a handful of private customers in California, but car industry
analysts are more excited by Toyota's Prius, a petrol-electric hybrid car,
which could be sold in Australia as early as next year.
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- The Prius uses a specially designed,
low-powered petrol engine and an electric motor which cuts in when a burst
of power is required. In normal cruising the engine recharges the electric
motor's batteries. The Prius has been a best-seller in Japan, with Toyota
tripling its initial production run of 1000 a month.
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- Mercedes Benz is developing a car that
runs on methanol, a liquid fuel which can be obtained from natural gas
or from plants. The Necar 3 uses a chemical separator to extract hydrogen
from the methanol. The hydrogen and air are combined in the fuel cell and
the resulting chemical reaction produces electricity which drives the
car's motor and water.
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- Mercedes says its experimental fuel-cell
cars have superior range and speed to battery cars. They also produce almost
no pollution.
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- Australia's aXcess concept car opens
the door on the interior of tomorrow's cars. But it will only open the
door if you are one of the people the car's electronic brain recognises.
If you're on that list the aXcess will open its doors automatically and
adjust the seats and mirrors for you. Once you are inside, the car can
be controlled by voice commands no more frantically looking for the windscreen
wipers. Solar-powered air-conditioning and satellite navigation keep the
occupants cool and on course.
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- A look into the distant future of driving
is the Concept 2096 car, commissioned by the Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders to celebrate the centenary of the British motor industry two
years ago, and designed by Coventry University students. "It remains
indicative of the dramatic changes we expect to occur in the next century,"
says the society's Roger King.
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- Powered by an electric motor that is
rechargeable on the move, the car would use a management system designed
to control the speed, stopping distance and direction of all vehicles on
the road. Nobody is required to drive, since controls are managed by a
navigation computer and there is no steering wheel.
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- Motorists of the future will simply climb
in, press some buttons and tell the vehicle where it needs to go, indicating
destination and preferred route, if they like.
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- British research suggests we might
adopt this technology sooner rather than later.
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- A report commissioned by British insurer
Barclays Life predicts that it will take barely two decades, rather than
a century, for motorists to be using solar-powered, eco-friendly self-driving
cars.
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- Automated highway systems controlling
the speed and direction of cars will become commonplace and congestion
will be a thing of the past, thanks to built-in global positioning systems
that will automatically reroute motorists.
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- The future of inner-city transport may
lie in a revolutionary electric tram developed by British inventor John
Parry. The combination of a flywheel and special gearing makes it clean,
quiet and economical. It does not need an overhead cable or electrified
track, being recharged at scheduled stops. Its engine is a sophisticated
version of the flywheel motors used in children's toys.
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- Ocean Liners To Carry 4,000 Passengers
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- The age of the ocean liner might have
ended with the Queen Elizabeth II, but cruise ships have taken over as
the grandest passenger vessels on the high seas. The world's largest passenger
vessel, for now, is the Grand Princess, at 109,000 tonnes. It has 18 decks,
a crew of 1100 and can accommodate 2600 passengers in 1300 cabins. Even
larger ships, including a 130,000-tonne contender from Royal Caribbean
Lines, are being planned.
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- For point-to-point sea transport, catamarans
will rival single-hulled ships. Catamarans offer a unique mix of stability,
speed and economy, and Australia is one of the world's major catamaran
builders.
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- Tasmanian shipyard Incat, which supplies
40 per cent of the world's market for ocean-going car ferries with a twin-hulled,
three-bow design, is moving into freighters. Its cargo cat design should
be ready for service late this year. Perth-based Austral Ships is planning
twin-hull freighters with a cargo capacity of 1500 tonnes and a service
speed of 40 knots (76km/h).
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- Super Trains
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- The fastest trains in the world are the
Japanese Nozomi (which means "hope") expresses, which carry 1000
passengers between cities at speeds up to 320km/h, 20km/h faster than the
French TGV trains. But Australian rail, long derided as unreliable, unglamorous
and slow, may catch up if a Very Fast Train service between Sydney and
Canberra is built. A decision is expected very soon from the ACT, NSW and
Federal governments on which of four contenders will be chosen to build
and run the service.
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- Two of the bidders, Capital Rail and
Inter-Capital Express, want to operate tilt trains, which run on existing
tracks but run faster by leaning into corners like a motorcyclist. With
a top speed of about 240km/h, a tilt train would make the Sydney-Canberra
journey in slightly less than two hours, including stops. Speedrail wants
to build a separate train and track, similar to the Nozimi and TGV systems.
With a top speed of about 300km/h, it would make the trip in 80 minutes,
including stops.
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- But Thyssen Transrapid wants to abolish
wheels on tracks altogether and build a magnetic levitation (maglev) train,
which floats above a monorail style track on a cushion of magnetic force.
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- The maglev system is smooth, silent and
very fast, with speeds of more than 400km/h possible. Unlike the other
two designs, no maglev trains run anywhere in the world. The first stages
of a line between Berlin and Hamburg in Germany are scheduled to open in
2002. Thyssen says that if its bid is selected, the Australian maglev would
become operational by about then.
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- Huge Flying Wings From Boeing
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- For Australians, cheaper air travel to
Europe or North America may be possible in a decade, thanks to huge flying
wings carrying up to 800 passengers. Models have already been tested by
McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing, which predicts that the blended-wing
body will use one third less fuel and be 12 per cent lighter than the rival
superjumbo planned by European consortium Airbus Industrie. Passengers
will sit in a double-decker format inside the wing. Three engines will
be mounted above the body at the back to reduce drag by sucking air rapidly
over the wings.
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- The Airbus A3XX is a more conventional
shape, with double-decker seating in the main body of the aircraft and
a giant hold beneath it providing space for cargo, a shopping arcade and
a games room.
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- Boeing is looking seriously at developing
a supersonic airliner to replace the ageing Concorde. Addressing the Australian
Aviation Press Club last month, the company's vice-president of product
strategy and design, John Roundhill, said the new superjet would carry
300 passengers at 2.4 times the speed of sound and have a range of 10,000km.
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- A less welcome development for economy-class
passengers is Boeing's proposal to develop a long-range version of its
777, which will be able to fly for 19 hours, or 16,000km, non-stop. Making
such marathons possible will be the Future Air Navigation System (FANS),
a change from radar-based air traffic control to a satellite- and computer-controlled
system, which will let aeroplanes fly a more direct course from city to
city. It will come into operation in the first decade of the new century.
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- Boeing thinks the answer to congestion
at the world's airports is not to build large aircraft, but to build jets
capable of bypassing the busiest hub airports and flying directly to their
destinations, Roundhill said. But if airlines and the travelling public
thought otherwise, it would go ahead with a larger 500-seat version of
the 747, he added.
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