Interesting article on future cars:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/...ars/index.html

 

Will we have planes we can drive on the road as well?

 

In the 1950's, they thought we'd have flying cars by now.

The technology being touted in these vehicles is far beyond flying. I doubt we'll have them in 50 years.

 

That Mazda Motonari hasn't even been built yet, and it already looks like it was crushed at the wrecking yard.

 

Apparently shape changing is the way most of the oems think things are going.

 

Although I don't disagree with your logic, I would bet there is going to be drastically more change in then next 50 years, than in the last 50. Technology advancement continues to explode exponentially.

 

To the point where we'll have holographic or shape-shifting exteriors? Or a car that you can "melt" and take with you? I don't think we'll have that in 50 years.

 

I don't know - most of that crap is pretty far-fetched. I predict that in 50 years, cars will still look like cars, not wine bottles with wings. And I sure as hell don't believe my car will be able to transform into my house.

By the way, which one of those things could pull a boat/trailer/etc? Or will we have moved beyond such "trivial" encumberences by then?

Something else to think about when forecasting automobile developments - what a car can or cannot do in the future is largely based on the ability of the infrastructure to support it. Think about the freeways in say "iRobot" or "Minority Report." To be in place in 50 years, we'd have to start building that junk now, and who's got the money to do that when the current roads are in varying states of disrepair? Asphalt, concrete, steel, and rubber are going to be around for a long time.

 

Heh, O'ye of little faith I can do that now, with just a little help from a magic powder called thermite...

Of course getting it to work or go back to its original shape after that might be a bit problematic.

 

I'm sorry, but my mind keeps seeing one of the 1^4 Hondas being hit by a semi, and it busting into 4 separate cars that look like a pinball machine bouncing around the highway... off guardrails, other cars, trucks, etc.

I don't think so.

I'm all for teleportation myself!
Screw the roads... just "Beam me up Scotty"!

 

I predict that within 100 years, computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.

 

Can you imagine the lawsuits that would occur after your arm (or other body part) attaches itself to your head during the re-phasing process?

 

Oh common, all you gotta do is find 3 other people who have the same make model and year as you. Oh yeah and going in the same general direction. Then you just pull over and connect them or better yet ram your mini car into theirs without stopping and voila. Insurance might a hurdle...

 

You owe me a new keyboard, and its very painful when coke fizzes out your nose!

That image is to funny

 

Have you guys ever seen the fluid used in the magnetic ride control systems?

I thought there was some hype about GM having a patent on a system that uses the same idea to manipulate the shape of a solid panel, but for the life of me I can't find the thread.

Also, nanotechnology is pretty interesting. Imagine what they'll be able to do with it in 50 years. Some of this stuff might not be so far-fetched.


Some of you "not-in-a-mere-50-years" people would do well to keep in mind that it took only 66 years to go from the Wright's "Flyer" at Kitty Hawk to Apollo 11 on the moon.