Team 6: Week 11 Report
Our transportation system today will quickly be outdated within the next 50 years, only to be replaced with more computerized accessories, amenities and gadgets galore. Yet how much safer will they be, or will they even be cost efficient. Money is
a big issue today especially with budget cuts here and there and with the government coming to a close. What is a citizen to do? Well, all semester long I have searched the topic of non-automobile traffic. I have researched different types of traffic,
water traffic, air traffic even bicycle traffic, but non of these things will revolutionize the future.
This week I did another excite search, the same topic as last week, non-automobile traffic. I found several articles that talked about traffic psychology, naturally from our class, but there was a link to The Future of Transportation. Quite adequately titled. Years back I remember watching a television program that talked about a car that would parallel park itself. Recently I have seen cars that are made of material that bounce bac
k right at you, but this idea is totally different.
The idea behind the future of transportation is based on magnetic levitation or maglev, . According to this article it was thought up in 1909 and the Germans' Transrapid 07 is a working model. With a maglev device a vehicle is held off of the gro
und through opposing magnetic forces which allow them to travel at speeds of up to 250 mph. Unfortunately there is a down side to this high speed invention. It is very costly to build the tracks for maglev vehicles, however there are incredibly low main
tenance costs.
The main drawback I see to such a device is that it is computer guided. A computer has not yet become invincible or indestructible. Computer viruses are becoming more and more sophisticated, developing as fast as technology. It's a novel idea to de
crease traffic in this manner, but far off from being well thought out. Flying at speeds of 250 mph would definitely get people where they need to be in less time, but what will happen if populations increase, if money is not available to maintain such a
n endeavor or computer systems become obsolete. Devising an alternate means of transportation will not now or ever solve our traffic problem. It's another addition to our means or devices of travel, but the effectiveness is yet to be investigated.
The key to answering the traffic problem must be found within ourselves. Only we know the answers.
Braden Kato's Week 11 Team Report
Aaron Takahashi's Week 11 Team Report
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