Top TechTop Tech #103: Flying Cars, Aimed Headlights, Folding Bridges
Important innovations in science and technology, every day
By Paul Worthington
Friday’s Top Tech:
• Not just a flying car: a hybrid
• Ford aims headlights
• Unfolding an origami bridge
Not just a flying car: a hybrid
Aviation developers Terrafugia admit their flying hybrid car is a decade away, but they are showcasing the TF-X proposed design and capabilities now.
The vertical takeoff and landing hybrid electric aircraft “will make flying easier and safer than ever before,” the Massachusetts-based company says. The TF-X “is designed to be the flying car for all of us.”
The four-seat fixed wing street-legal aircraft will have electric ground drive and electric power assist on takeoff and landing. It should “be statistically safer than driving a modern automobile” thanks to optional autonomous operation, and will have a non-stop flight range of at least 500 miles with its gasoline-burning engine.
And hey, it will have a backup full-vehicle parachute system.
Ford aims headlights
Auto maker Ford says it is developing advanced lighting technology that “enables drivers to more easily see potential hazards when driving at night.”
Driving at night, “particularly on unlit roads, can be a nerve-wracking experience,” the company says. “Ford is developing new lighting technologies that will enable drivers to more easily identify potential hazards, including pedestrians, cyclists and animals.”
The camera-based advanced front lighting system widens beam at junctions and roundabouts after interpreting traffic signs. With GPS, it will then “remember roadways and direct lighting to help drivers better see bends in the road – effectively lighting the way home on previously travelled routes.”
Also, the spot lighting feature “uses infra-red camera to detect pedestrians, cyclists, and animals, and highlight the potential hazards; system can detect up to eight potential hazards and highlight two highest priorities using specially designed headlights and on-screen display.”
Unfolding an origami bridge
Just as folded paper can have more structural strength than a flat sheet, an intricately folded bridge can support traffic —while also being collapsible and light-weight enough to be transported and installed wherever an existing bridge has collapsed.
Researchers Hiroshima University have developed the origami-style bridge that “expands to temporarily accommodate gaps,” Discovery reports. It “expands and contracts like an accordion and is described as the world’s largest, strongest and lightest expanding temporary bridge.”
It takes just an hour to set up.
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