Transportation

Tech Watch

This Device Can Save You Money On Gas (And Maybe Even Your Life)

The Automatic Smart Driving Assistant is designed to warn drivers when they accelerate too quickly and make other fuel-costly choices

December 20, 2013

The Bicycle Helmet That’s Invisible (Until You Need It)

Riffing off of airbag technology, Swedish designers have created a helmet, worn around the neck, that inflates during an accident

December 17, 2013

This Wheel Turns Your Bicycle Into An Electric Hybrid

The Copenhagen Wheel can be snapped onto just about any bicycle to boost your pedaling power by up to 10 times

December 5, 2013

How Nostalgia Plays Into Our Love of Buildings Old and New

Never-before-seen photos reveal that Penn Station wasn’t as pristine as we remember when it was torn down

November 8, 2013

See Why China’s New Highway System is an Engineering Marvel

In this series of satellite photographs, see the impact of the massive growth in transportation infrastructure

October 11, 2013

L.A. to San Fran in 30 Minutes? Can You Say Hyperloop?

Entrepreneur Elon Musk thinks bullet trains are too slow and expensive. He says he has a better idea: high-speed travel in tubes

July 17, 2013

The National Automated Highway System That Almost Was

In 1991, Congress authorized $650 million to develop the technology that would make driverless cars a reality

May 16, 2013

Nobody Walks in L.A.: The Rise of Cars and the Monorails That Never Were

As strange as it may seem today, the automobile was seen by many as the progressive solution to the transportation problems of Los Angeles

April 26, 2013

The History of the Minivan

The iconic car changed the way families drove

March 26, 2013

Postwar Dreams of Flying in Style

The Northrup Flying Wing promised a luxurious experience for the air traveler of tomorrow

March 22, 2013

An Early History of the Parachute

It wasn’t a military expert or an aviation pioneer, but a Russian actor who developed the first viable parachute

March 7, 2013

Hot Air Balloon Travel for the Luxury Traveler of the 1800s

Visionary designers of the 19th century believed that the future of air travel depended on elaborate airships

March 5, 2013

George Jetson Navigates a Series of Tubes

Travel by pneumatic tubes? The idea was seriously considered in the 1960s

February 25, 2013

Libra: The 21st Century (Libertarian) Space Colony

The government can’t get their hands on you when you’re floating above Earth

February 15, 2013

The Gadgets of the Future From the Electrical Shows of Yesterday

Decades before the debut of the Consumer Electronics Show, early adopters flocked to extravagant high-tech fairs in New York and Chicago

January 10, 2013

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About San Francisco’s Cable Cars

Ever since they became a part of the city’s transit system, they have been iconic mainstays of its cityscape

January 4, 2013

Santa Claus Builds A Flying Machine

As the 1800s gave way to the 1900s, many Americans felt that old Saint Nick needed a new way of getting from house to house

December 20, 2012

Motopia: A Pedestrian Paradise

Visit the futuristic town where drivers and non-drivers live in perfect harmony

December 6, 2012

A New Great Depression and Ladies on the Moon: 1970s Middle School Kids Look to the Year 2000

The ideal future according to a ten-year-old: shorter school days, lower taxes, and lots and lots of robots

October 12, 2012

Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 03 – The Space Car

The Jetsons didn’t invent the flying car, but it sure did a lot to cement the idea of the airborne automobile into the American imagination

October 9, 2012