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Great Scott! Are you ready to go Back to the Future?
When Michael J Fox, in the 1989 movie Back to the Future, visited 21 October 2015 he found some pretty cool stuff. We may not yet have flying cars or hover boards (although prototypes are available), but some predictions were startlingly accurate.
Video calls are a reality through Skype or FaceTime, while wearable technology like the high-tech specs he dons at the breakfast table bear more than a passing resemblance to the capabilities of Google Glass. The film also sports big TVs (plasma flat screens anyone?) and there's even a drone.
So what advances might we see in the next 25 years or so?
Da Vinci Institute futurist Thomas Frey has peered into the future of transportation towards 2050 and come up with some thought-provoking ideas.
He says transportation technology has progressed at a much slower pace over the last 50 years, compared to other sciences. But there are indications it could be about to move forward with the development of two new technologies – frictionless vehicles and binary power.
The flying car era
The flying car era is close, with flying drones beginning to be used to deliver packages, pizzas, and groceries. Soon, drones will enable homes to be taken off the grid with delivery of water and other services to any location.
According to Frey, six key technological breakthroughs will be needed for the first generation of flying cars to become viable: fully automated navigation systems, directional layering of airspace, low-impact vertical take-off, convenient fly-drive capability, silent engines, and specialised safety systems.
Flying passenger cars, currently being developed in several countries, will come into commercial use by 2030, freeing up transport lanes for heavy haulage.
Binary power
Friction-free no-moving-parts vehicles will run on "binary power' – a concept where two otherwise harmless beams of energy will intersect at some point in space creating an intense source of power.
2050 and the transportation industry
With power being beamed in, the cost, weight, and manufacturing complexity of vehicles will be greatly reduced and the transportation industry is expected to go through a very rapid conversion from our current dependence on mechanical engines.
Frey predicts that by 2050, friction-free technologies and advances in material science will result in the average passenger vehicle weighing less than 100 kilos and take less than an hour to build at a cost (in today's dollars) of less than $10,000.
By 2050, the power that drives vehicles will transition from oil to electric and later to binary power as a principal source of vehicle power. Oil and gas will remain plentiful as alternative sources emerge.
The future of personal transportation will be driven by strong desires for personal freedom and people's need to gain control over lifestyles that are moving faster and faster. The flow-on effects on the commercial transport industry will revolutionise the way we navigate and transport everything.