Carsof2100a.D.

As much as the people of the worId believe in personal transporta­tion and freedom of expression, the crowding of the world, increases in emission levels, vehicle cost, and the depletion of fossil fuel will necessi­tate changes in the vehicles of 2100 and how they are used.

Although it would be nice to believe that in a hundred years we would all have personal jetpacks and could buzz around a couple hundred me­ters above the ground, our infrastructure is such that we will still be us­ing ground transportation. The highway systems in developed countries are well established and will remain with appropriate changes to allow for automated travel.

During the next 100 years most bridges and highways will have to be replaced, which will allow for the placement of a system in the road bed to control the traffic flow. In urban areas wireless control of the vehicle can be used. This same wireless control can be the basis for the urban mass transit and freight movement systems. Freight movement will be limited to certain highways and times of day.

Based on the number of accidents and deaths attributed to weather conditions - rain, snow, ice, fog - on the interstate systems, a solution will be required to allow for maximum speed without worry of the envi­ronment. An obvious solution would be the creation of underground tunnels that would allow for high speed travel. Although this is an engineering solution there is no way of knowing if the social attitudes will change enough to convince people to travel in a tunnel for hundreds of kilometers and feel safe from terrorism. A solution that may be viable would be limited access highways with a type of magnetic levitation that allows vehicles to move at high rates of speed without worrying about the road or environmental conditions. Under this system a vehicle enter­ing this highway would levitate above the road slightly and not rely on the vehicle's wheels or powerplant. This would conserve the vehicle's energy. Without the tire friction loads to react with the road surface, the surface should remain intact longer without deterioration.

In 2100, personal communication will be in full force. All modes of transportation will have personal access terminals available for all users.

The cars of 2100 A.D. will be made of an advanced thermoplastic whose shape can be changed by applying an electric charge. This revolu­tionary plastic will be based on a technology similar to today's reheological fluids. The use of thermoplastic for the frame will allow the vehicle to be made into three basic lengths to accommodate 2, 4, or 6 passen­gers. This system will allow the same frame to slide to extend or contract as needed for the different size vehicles. The addition or removal of plas­tic panels will allow for the increase or decrease in length. Thermoplastic structural members will be used to support the body panels, which will snap together for easy changeover.

The uniform shape and structure will allow the three vehicles to be manufactured economically in large numbers. Service centers can be set up so that owners or renters can decide how many passengers the vehicle needs to transport. This option can be changed at will and within two hours. In reality you can have the type of vehicle you want when you need it.

With an "egg" shape, where the extensions are added or subtracted in the center of the vehicle, the front and rear will remain the same along with the powerplant. The four- and six-passenger versions will have slid­ing doors on both sides, much like the minivans of today. If and when a vehicle is removed from service for whatever reason, the body and frame will be recycled 100% and reused. The new rheological thermoplastic will allow for a certain amount of personalization to the outside of the vehicle, but the overall shape will remain the same. When the car is re­turned, the personalization can be removed by "recharging" the body to its original shape and color. The personalization and customization of1 the vehicle will occur through the interior electronics.

Safety will be the overriding factor that will lead to the uniform exte­rior of the vehicle. Today, traffic accidents account for a half million deaths globally with five million being severely injured. All three ver­sions of the vehicle will be similar in width and height, with the mass and length varying due to the addition of more seats and doors. This will allow vehicles to be used for transportation and not extensions of people's personalities and status in life.

The most difficult part of introducing a vehicle system that can and will save lives will be the forced removal of vehicles other than the new ones. The adoption of the new vehicle system will have to occur over & period of at least 20 years to allow for the phase-out of the old "non - compliant" vehicles. To make this type of move palatable, governments' may have to set up adult amusement areas surrounded by bubbles to control emissions, where selected older vehicles can be driven. A selection of well-maintained "older" cars can be kept and used as "amusement" rides. This would allow future generations to experience driving cars of previous decades in a controlled environment.

Assuming that in 100 years the people of the world can come to agreement on safety, clean air, and conservation of resources, the new vehicle system can use electronics to personalize the vehicles. If all vehicles are equipped with electronic drive, electronic brakes, electronic steering advanced radar systems, improved GPS systems, and total computer control, then there will not be any more accidents. No two vehicles catt get closer than a specified distance because the computer control of the electronic drive systems that will be affected. The two vehicles can B& made to stop or steer away from each other and thus avoid any contact. This means that the vehicles do not have to be designed to be "moving tanks" with supporting structures for possible crashes and multiple passenger restraint systems. With an advanced "360°" radar system, the vehicle can also react to things other than vehicles, such as other people, animals, and inanimate objects. Seats will be designed to adapt "to the passenger's size and weight and offer temperature control and support,

With the adoption of "smart glass" that can be made clear or opaque depending on the electronic charge put through it, the passengers can choose to view the real outside, a virtual scene of choice, or a 360° videopanoramic view of the outside. Since the driver is not required to control the vehicle there is no need to monitor the outside situations. The loca­tion, status, and history of any vehicle can be obtained via the control system.

The personalization of the inside of the vehicle can be accomplished by adding the appropriate level of "plug and play" modules to the vehicle, depending on passenger need. For instance, a vehicle can be equipped with a mobile office with a complete telecommunications package to transact any type of business. However, some "owners" may want only an entertainment vehicle complete with video entertainment, games, and audio from any century. All vehicles will have the minimal electronics needed to control the vehicle and communicate with the advanced con­trol systems.

Limited areas will be set aside to allow the "driver" to take some control of the vehicle via joystick controls and an advanced heads-up display. When not traveling on limited access highways, the driver can opt to drive on the four wheels. However, driver control will not be what we have today. Lane deviation and driver non-attentive systems will be used to allow the computer to take back control immediately if the driv­er does not operate the vehicle within specified boundaries. All other vehicle functions will remain under computer control. This type of vehi­cle system does remove the driver from the equation and may not seem palatable to many people who feel it is a right to drive any vehicle any­where.

Even though there is not total agreement as to the date, many sourc­es think that we will deplete our supply of fossil fuel in 50 to 15 years. Over the last 50 years a number of other sources of fuel have been tried such as reclaiming oil from shale and creating fuel from corn and other organic sources, but when the price of crude oil is lowered these methods seem to be abandoned. However, there is a limit to the amount of fossil fuel and a decision will have to be made as to whether to burn this fuel in vehicles or use it to produce items other than fuel.

Only the people in existence 100 years from today will know if we guessed right. However, it would be a shame if in 100 years they are faced with the same types of problems we have today.

Содержание

Lesson 1………………………………………………………………………………………… 2

Lesson 2………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

Lesson 3………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

Lesson 4………………………………………………………………………………………… 9

Lesson 5…………………………………………………………………………………………10

Lesson 6…………………………………………………………………………………………13

Texts for the additional reading…………………………………………………………………15

Part of the Automobile series
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Portal · Category

1 paint became a bottleneck – покраска стала проблемой

2 to go under – зд. разориться

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