Elon Musk’s latest vision is to use SpaceX’s reusable rockets to fly anywhere in the world in less than an hour at a cost comparable to full-price airline travel, with a maximum speed of 27,000 km/hr. Water-based launching platforms would be used.

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A team from the University of Sherbrooke has designed a drone that can take off from water and land, either normally, or by stalling or precision roll. The drone can right-side itself, and its takeoff design is based on that of mallard ducks.

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Why the electric engine (18 parts) will replace the Internal Combustion Engine (2,000+ parts), and the implications for the automobile industry (ICE manufacturers and car dealerships, auto parts, car maintenance, gas stations) and related industries (insurance, highway motels and restaurants), and for society in general, and peak oil demand.

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One demo in the Robust Adaptive Systems Lab on the Carnegie Mellon campus involves 15 pocket-sized drones lined up, three by five. They lift off in unison; then split into smaller groups, and explore the boundaries of the cage, before converging again and moving around as one. The batting cage is a motion capture arena, designed to track the quadcopters’ choreographed movement with pinpoint accuracy. . Another demo in the arena uses 8 high-powered floor fans to mimic natural wind. The drone slowly adapts to its surroundings.

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Researchers at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich developed a drone that is able to fly in any orientation, with rotors positioned at different angles. A prototype is shown catching a small ball in a net. The control algorithm is able to generate around 500,000 trajectories/sec, select the smoothest one within 20 milliseconds, and guide the drone from its initial position to catch the ball.

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Forecasted earliest public availability of new transportation:
2020 – Driverless Cars and Delivery Drones
2021 – Mass Transit Hyperloop
2023 – Flying Cars
????? – Freight Delivery by Helium-powered Airships
Major time delays are the result of the need for new government travel and safety regulations.

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Land Rover has created an unusual version of its Discovery, featuring a quadcopter drone that launches from the top of the SUV. The drone even takes off and lands while the vehicle is moving, and it’s designed primarily for search and rescue missions. The Austrian Red Cross is actively deploying the new Land Rover “Project Hero” vehicles, and trialing the drone.

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