When Volkswagen launched its "People’s Car" project, soliciting ideas for futuristic visions and concepts that could be made into reality, more than 119,000 ideas were posted, including the Hover Car, the Music Car, and the Smart Key. All were highlighted at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show.
The Music Car concept involves an LED-covered Volkswagen Beetle that changes color to match the music selections of the driver, while the zero-emission, two-seated Hover Car levitates above the road and propels itself forward using electromagnetic road networks.
The Smart Key concept caters to the uber-attached, providing them with a 9mm HD touchscreen on the ignition key that monitors the status of the car throughout the day and keeps tabs on it via satellite transmission.
Obviously , this "concept" is not being demonstrated in real life.. and the author didn't think it was going to be believed by readers of Design News as such.
Some of you should be feel sheepish .. not mis-lead or intentionally fooled.
As to "Magnetic levitation" comments. It was never indicated "what" was being demonstrated to create levitation.
May I offer a alternative answer.... Quantum locking? maybe?
Quantum locking... THIS SHOULD NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH SUPER CONDUCTIVITY and MAGNETISM.
Not that this technology is demonstrable, but it could answer some of the questions and limitations leveled at magnetic levitation for this application.
As for ZERO EMMISSIONS, what about all of the ADDED magnetic fields that will be produced? What are the side efects of being constantly surrounded by high power magnetic fields. It doesn't mater what we do, there will always be some form of emmission to deal with.
To call a new technology ECO friendly or ZERO emmission is misleading. EV cars aren't as ECO friendly as people think because of all of the environmental issues that are forgotten about in their production. It's just that these problems are created somewhere else, so people conveniently forget that they even exist.
I agree that Maglev is a neat idea, but not practical. It would take forever to get the planet restructured so that it could be used everywhere. Too bad it wasn't thought of and implemented 150 years ago. It might have had a chance then.
While I haven't taken the time to read all 39 blog entries as of this writing, for me this is a ridiculous undertaking! It's fine to have a maglev @ DISNEY or some other theme parks, but in reality for many of us, it is an exercise in frustration dealing with the local gov't agency responsible for filling potholes. It seems to me based on previous efforts around the globe that to develop this alternative form of transportation, it would take massive REVOLUTION in our road infrastructure, not evolution.
And, one more thing editorials & bloggers have posed the dilemma regarding EV's. While operating one may be considered environmentally friendly, etc. and reduce our dependency of fossil fuel resources, WHERE does the original energy come from to charge these vehicles? By the same token, WHERE does the massive amount of electrical energy come from to power these magnets, etc.? HUH???
As a diehard sci-fi fan since age 11, I watch almost every science fiction movie that comes out. My husband and I used to make a game of pointing out what's created with CGI in a given film, not based on whether the thing itself was improbable (ocean waves, wolves, or aliens), but because the CGI wasn't good enough. But sometime back, it started getting a lot harder (first ocean waves, then animal fur) and recently, in Disney's John Carter, we could not tell at all, except by the unreality of the event or object being portrayed, like this one.
Stuff like this really make me feel dumb. Since it occured in this publication, I believed this was just a highly edited. actual experience. Now I feel like the poor shlub who has been duped by a carnival barker. I agree with an earlier poster who felt Design News should not publish things such as this without a disclaimer.
It's only magnetics, the cost to implement is enourmous as the street must be laden with a matrix of cables and sensors. I'm sure everyone has heard of Maglev!
Am I the only one to recognize the REAL reason for this development. The Communist Chinese obviously know how bad American drivers are and figure this is a better way to conquer. First they buy everything in the U.S. and then kill the population with these things.
What they don't realize is that had they first come out with the HoverCar they could just wait and let our bad drivers wipe out the population and then just walk in and take over when were all dead from auto/hover accidents. Obviously at a much cheaper price than having to build up their Navy/Army/and what-ever-else-they-have militaries.
On the other hand, just think of the road infra-structure costs we could save by just killing half of our drivers on the road now.
OK, I was born at night but not last night.Very very clever animation I will admit but give me a break.VW has great ads but the hover car, I don't think so.I will admit this—seeing is believing.Show me!! Show me, take me for a ride, let me drive; then I'm a believer.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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