Transportation's Perennial Problems

The Past and Future of Global Mobility

With growing wealth, people everywhere travel farther and faster. That trend inevitably brings a shift in the dominant transportation technologies

13 Vehicles that went Nowhere

Hybrid Electric Vehicles

They will reduce pollution and conserve petroleum. But will people buy them, even if the vehicles have astounding fuel efficiency?

Flywheels in Hybrid Vehicles

A rapidly spinning flywheel combines with a gas-turbine engine to power a novel hybrid electric vehicle

Automated Highways

Cars that drive themselves in tight formation might alleviate the congestion now plaguing urban freeways

Unjamming Traffic with Computers

Insights gleaned from realistic simulations are already moving from computer screens to asphalt

Now that Travel can be Virtual, will Congestion Virtually Disappear?

Speed versus Need

How High-Speed Trains Make Tracks

In Europe and Japan, train manufacturers are gearing up to achieve ultrafast speeds routinely, without relying on levitation

Fast Trains: Why the U.S. Lags

The reasons are more political than technological

Maglev: Racing to Oblivion?

Straight up into the Blue

Tiltrotors, which take off like a helicopter but fly like an airplane, will soon make their military debut. Can civilian applications be far behind?

The Lure of Icarus

With new designs and materials, human-powered fliers challenge the distance record

A Simpler Ride into Space

Technological advances may allow rockets of the next century to operate much as aircraft do today. That change might cut the cost of reaching orbit by 10-fold

Faster Ships for the Future

New designs for oceangoing freighter may soon double their speeds

Microsubs go to Sea

Small, maneuverable, self-contained--these tiny submersibles may someday take a human to the bottom of the sea

Elevators on the Move

Elevator technology is taking off in new directions, including sideways