DailyDirt: Cool Vehicles That You Can't Drive

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The popular modes of transportation we have today might not be the same in a few decades. Obviously, there will be more Hyundais and Kias on the roads, but there are plenty of other concept vehicles that don't make it to the auto shows. Here are a few interesting links that look cooler than a Volt or Leaf.
  • Hybrid air vehicles might look like Zeppelins, but they don't need special runways to land/takeoff. The US military has invested in them, apparently, but mainly as a surveillance ship. [url]
  • Some Australians broke a land speed record for a solar powered car -- 88 kph FTW. Neither 1.21 gigawatts nor a flux capacitor were required. [url]
  • If you're going to add a Segway mechanism to a car, this concept car looks like the way to do it. Make the two rear wheels into detachable personal motorbikes. [url]
  • There's a pretty big picture of almost all the different Batmobiles with wheels. Given that many changes, Batman's ride probably never lasted long enough for an oil change. [url]
  • Hide this

    Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

    Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

    While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

    –The Techdirt Team

    Filed Under: batmobile, hybrid air vehicle, zeppelin
    Companies: segway


    Reader Comments

    Subscribe: RSS

    View by: Time | Thread


    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 5:23pm

      "Hybrid air vehicles might look like Zeppelins, but they don't need special runways to land/takeoff. The US military has invested in them, apparently, but mainly as a surveillance ship. [url] "

      If this is even a U.S. "innovation" (if it can even be called that), it figures that it has more to do with spying on its citizens (and others) than it has to do with serving the public good.

      "Some Australians broke a land speed record for a solar powered car -- 88 kph FTW. Neither 1.21 gigawatts nor a flux capacitor were required. [url] "

      This is actually surprising, given their patent on the wheel. and, as usual, no new innovations from the U.S. because we're too busy suing each other for IP infringement and all of our would be scientists have become IP lawyers instead.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mark Harris, 13 Jan 2011 @ 5:41pm

      That Hybrid airship is soooo Thunderbird 2!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      scarr (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 6:03pm

      I wonder

      Was #3 inspired by #4?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 6:58pm

      Those hybrids could stay aloft a long time, some have hinted that they are cheaper and easy to service than communication satellites.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 7:10pm

      Maybe someday they will build an aerial landing field.

      http://mytechnologyworld9.blogspot.com/2008/11/airship-dreams.html

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:33am

      Segway Mechanism?

      I don't see how that segway car could possibly work. A 'Segway Mechanism' is not something that automatically balances an object on a single axis, regardless of weight distribution; it is just a feedback loop that keeps an object from un balancing by moving the wheels underneath it to rebalance it. Having the two back wheels of a car fall off, and expecting the car to somehow magically balance on the front wheels could realistically only happen if the car was going super fast in reverse or somehow flipped vertically.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
      identicon
      Fast Eddie, 22 Sep 2011 @ 3:15pm

      KIA's Are IN For Sure -

      A really cool car that I'm really into right now is the new Optima. It's a sweet ride for the buck. The specs aren't half bad too. I found these great reviews on the 2011 Kia Optima

      link to this | view in chronology ]


    Follow Techdirt
    Essential Reading
    Techdirt Deals
    Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
    Techdirt Insider Discord

    The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

    Loading...
    Recent Stories

    This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
    Close

    Email This

    This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.