Travel Tuesday : Future Travels or The Future of Traveling

A couple of week ago on my Sunday Five I asked what people wanted me to write about.  Among the suggestions was either future travel, or the future of travel.  I write about my adventures, often after the fact.  I am also fascinated by the future of travel, and here are my ideas on the future of travel.  

Electric cars are the future.  I am not saying I won't be able to drive my gas guzzling little convertible until I die, but that electric cars will become the norm, rather than the exception.  We can generate electricity from solar, and wind; storage is becoming better every year.  It is the future.  For longer distances, the first step is hybrid that recharges itself, these have been around for 20 years.  I am hearing about testing for continuous wireless charging, a charging field built into the roadway, that will touchlessly recharge an electric car or truck while it is being driven.  If that works, it is the future. 

Self driving cars will be here within my lifetime.  The technology is moving along, and despite the challenges, will ultimately be safer than most of the distracted drivers on the road today. 

Airlines are with us. They are working on alternate fuels.  There are already contracts to buy hybrid commuter planes.  

General or Private aviation is nearing a cross roads.  The basic designs being sold today, are largely unchanged in 50 plus years.  The EPA just announced it is looking at lead in aviation fuel, one of the last exceptions.  That change would force a change in engine design for the first time since the 1950's. The industry needs to change or go extinct.  There are rechargeable electrics flying.  Range is the current challenge.  

I think we will see a revolution in general aviation based on drones.  Autonomous vertical takeoff and landing technology is probably the wave of the future.  Drones are nearly impossible for a human to control, they require computer technology.  With that comes a change in the training that is needed, and a huge leap forward in safety.  

Public transit will always be a urban option.  The train technology of most subway systems is largely unchanged in over 100 years.  It is time for change. I don't know what it will look like.  But it is the key to moving people dense population centers.

While much of world has jumped forward with high speed passenger trains, the US suffers from an infrastructure limitation.  We need to build dedicated tracks for high speed passenger transit, and that takes a commitment that few people have.  In the meantime, train travel in the USA is little changed since the 1950s. 

Cruise ships seem to be coming back.  Covid scrapped the oldest and nastiest of the ships.  The new one's coming online are more comfortable and hopefully healthier.  I have a few good cruises left in me.