This article was taken from the May 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Wired asks a selection of designers and business types for their thoughts on this month's big question: "How will transportation systems have changed ten years from now?"
Rob Thring
Consortium leader, FUTURE Vehicles
"Transportation will have shifted toward lower carbon options, including more use of mass transit and smart-mobile technology to arrange pick-up and drop-off. People will still have cars, but we will see fuel-cell hybrid cars (like the Honda FCX Clarity) coming to the market."
Gilo Cardozo
Aviation engineer; Parajet founder and CTO
"Dramatic advancements in engine technology will create vertical take-off and landing air vehicles. An active digital network of vertical highways and multilevel horizontal skyways combined with personal aircraft will be the start of a new era in personal transportation."
Kimberly Wu
Car designer and illustrator
"Connectivity and infotainment will play a key role in the vehicle experience. Autonomous driving technology will lead to safer roads while freeing up drivers to do more inside the car. Green technology will continue to push the industry towards a more sustainable path."
Mark Templin
General manager, Lexus
"Autonomous driving technologies and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) will evolve our roadways into communications hubs. ITS can help drivers 'see' at blocked intersections, detect pedestrians at crosswalks, and change lanes more safely."
Alison Munro
Chief executive, High Speed Two rail network
"Currently, individual transport companies generally provide only part of a journey. By 2020 there will be a more seamless travel experience and new technology will allow people to buy the whole journey -- whatever the transportation type."
Martin Lowson
Rocket scientist; president, Urban Light Transit (ULTra)
"There are currently 163 fully driverless transit systems worldwide, carrying eight million passengers daily. If lessons are learned from these, fully autonomous vehicles will be operating in some of our cities, as they already are for our Heathrow Airport pod."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
