Whats faster than autonomous vehicles and flying cars?
Try Hyperloop, rocket travel, and robotic avatars. Hyperloop is currently working towards 670 mph (1080 kph) passenger pods, capable of zipping us from Los Angeles to downtown Las Vegas in under 30 minutes. Rocket Travel (think SpaceXs Starship) promises to deliver you almost anywhere on the planet in under an hour. Think New York to Shanghai in39 minutes.
But wait, it gets even better
As 5G connectivity, hyper-realistic virtual reality, and next-gen robotics continue their exponential progress, the emergence of robotic avatars will all but nullify the concept of distance, replacing human travel with immediate remote telepresence.
Lets dive in.
Did you know that Hyperloop was the brainchild of Elon Musk? Just one in a series of transportation innovations from a man determined to leave his mark on the industry.
In 2013, in an attempt to shorten the long commute between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the California state legislature proposed a $68 billion budget allocation for what appeared to be the slowest and most expensive bullet train in history.
Musk was outraged. The cost was too high, the train too sluggish. Teaming up with a group of engineers from Tesla and SpaceX, he published a 58-page concept paper for The Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation network that used magnetic levitation to propel passenger pods down vacuum tubes at speeds of up to 670 mph. If successful, it would zip you across California in 35 minutesjust enough time to watch your favorite sitcom.
In January 2013, venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, with Musks blessing, started Hyperloop One with myself, Jim Messina (former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Obama), and tech entrepreneurs Joe Lonsdale and David Sacks as founding board members. A couple of years after that, the Virgin Group invested in this idea, Richard Branson was elected chairman, and Virgin Hyperloop One was born.
The Hyperloop exists, says Josh Giegel, co-founder and chief technology officer of Hyperloop One, because of the rapid acceleration of power electronics, computational modeling, material sciences, and 3D printing.
Thanks to these convergences, there are now ten major Hyperloop One projectsin various stages of developmentspread across the globe. Chicago to DC in 35 minutes. Pune to Mumbai in 25 minutes. According to Giegel, Hyperloop is targeting certification in 2023. By 2025, the company plans to have multiple projects under construction and running initial passenger testing.
So think about this timetable: Autonomous car rollouts by 2020. Hyperloop certification and aerial ridesharing by 2023. By 2025going on vacation might have a totally different meaning. Going to work most definitely will.
But whats faster than Hyperloop?
As if autonomous vehicles, flying cars, and Hyperloop werent enough, in September of 2017, speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, Musk promised that for the price of an economy airline ticket, his rockets will fly you anywhere on Earth in under an hour.
Musk wants to use SpaceXs megarocket, Starship, which was designed to take humans to Mars, for terrestrial passenger delivery. The Starship travels at 17,500 mph. Its an order of magnitude faster than the supersonic jet Concorde.
Think about what this actually means: New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes. London to Dubai in 29 minutes. Hong Kong to Singapore in 22 minutes.
So how real is the Starship?
We could probably demonstrate this [technology] in three years, Musk explained, but its going to take a while to get the safety right. Its a high bar. Aviation is incredibly safe. Youre safer on an airplane than you are at home.
That demonstration is proceeding as planned. In September 2017, Musk announced his intentions to retire his current rocket fleet, both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, and replace them with the Starships in the 2020s.
Less than a year later, LA mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted that SpaceX was planning to break ground on an 18-acre rocket production facility near the port of Los Angeles. And April of this year marked an even bigger milestone: the very first test flights of the rocket.
Thus, sometime in the next decade or so, off to Europe for lunch may become a standard part of our lexicon.
Wait, wait, theres one more thing.
While the technologies weve discussed will decimate the traditional transportation industry, theres something on the horizon that will disrupt travel itself. What if, to get from A to B, you didnt have to move your body? What if you could quote Captain Kirk and just say Beam me up, Scotty?
Well, shy of the Star Trek transporter, theres the world of avatars.
An avatar is a second self, typically in one of two forms. The digital version has been around for a couple of decades. It emerged from the video game industry and was popularized by virtual world sites like Second Life and books-turned-blockbusters likeReady Player One.
A VR headset teleports your eyes and ears to another location, while a set of haptic sensors shifts your sense of touch. Suddenly, youre inside an avatar inside a virtual world. As you move in the real world, your avatar moves in the virtual.
Use this technology to give a lecture and you can do it from the comfort of your living room, skipping the trip to the airport, the cross-country flight, and the ride to the conference center.
Robots are the second form of avatars. Imagine a humanoid robot that you can occupy at will. Maybe, in a city far from home, youve rented the bot by the minutevia a different kind of ridesharing companyor maybe you have spare robot avatars located around the country.
Either way, put on VR goggles and a haptic suit, and you can teleport your senses into that robot. This allows you to walk around, shake hands, and take actionall without leaving your home.
And like the rest of the tech weve been talking about, even this future isnt far away.
In 2018, entrepreneur Dr. Harry Kloor recommended to All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japans largest airline, the design of an Avatar XPRIZE. ANA then funded this vision to the tune of $10 million to speed the development of robotic avatars. Why? Because ANA knows this is one of the technologies likely to disrupt their own airline industry, and they want to be ready.
ANA recently announced its newme robot that humans can use to virtually explore new places. The colorful robots have Roomba-like wheeled bases and cameras mounted around eye-level, which capture surroundings viewable through VR headsets.
If the robot was stationed in your parents home, you could cruise around the rooms and chat with your family at any time of day. After revealing the technology at Tokyos Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies in October, ANA plans to deploy 1,000 newme robots by 2020.
With virtual avatars like newme, geography, distance, and cost will no longer limit our travel choices. From attractions like the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids of Egypt to unreachable destinations like the moon or deep sea, we will be able to transcend our own physical limits, explore the world and outer space, and access nearly any experience imaginable.
Individual car ownership has enjoyed over a century of ascendancy and dominance.
The first real threat it facedtodays ride-sharing modelonly showed up in the last decade. But that ridesharing model wont even get ten years to dominate. Already, its on the brink of autonomous car displacement, which is on the brink of flying car disruption, which is on the brink of Hyperloop and rockets-to-anywhere decimation. Plus, avatars.
The most important part: All of this change will happen over the next ten years. Welcome to a future of human presence where the only constant israpidchange.
Note: This articlean excerpt from my next book The Future Is Faster Than You Think, co-authored with Steven Kotler, to be released January 28th, 2020originally appeared on my tech blog at diamandis.com. Read the original article here.
Abundance-Digital Online Community:Stay ahead of technological advancements and turn your passion into action. Abundance Digital is now part of Singularity University.Learn more.
Image Credit: Virgin Hyperloop One
Read the original here:
Within 10 Years, We'll Travel by Hyperloop, Rockets, and Avatars - Singularity Hub
- Downloads - Singularity Viewer - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- What is Singularity (the)? - Definition from WhatIs.com - January 5th, 2017 [January 5th, 2017]
- When Electronic Witnesses Are Everywhere, No Secret's Safe - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Report: AMD Ryzen Performance in Ashes of the Singularity Benchmark - PC Perspective - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Do you believe in the Singularity? - Patheos (blog) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Editorial Note From the Singularity Hub Team - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Discover the Most Advanced Industrial Technologies at Exponential Manufacturing - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- 10th Letter looks at nature in the time of the Singularity - Creative Loafing Atlanta - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is the Singularity - Bloomberg View - Bloomberg.com - Bloomberg - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Wearable Devices Can Actually Tell When You're About to Get Sick - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- AMD 8-core Ryzen benchmark show up on Ashes Of The Singularity ... - VR-Zone - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Robot Cars Can Teach Themselves How to Drive in Virtual Worlds - Singularity Hub - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Physicists Unveil Blueprint for a Quantum Computer the Size of a Soccer Field - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- How Robots Helped Create 100000 Jobs at Amazon - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Ready to Change the World? Apply Now for Singularity University's 2017 Global Solutions Program - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Singularity Containers for Science, Reproducibility, and HPC - Linux.com (blog) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Families Finally Hear From Completely Paralyzed Patients Via New Mind-Reading Device - Singularity Hub - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- artificial intelligence: the fear of a technological singularity ... - ETtech.com - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Holograms Aren't The Stuff of Science Fiction Anymore - Singularity Hub - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- How the World Has Changed From 1917 to 2017 - Singularity Hub - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Preparing for the Singularity - Inverse - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Our Health Data Can Save Lives, But We Have to Be Willing to Share - Singularity Hub - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity merges with standalone expansion Escalation, no upgrade fee - PCGamesN - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Just Stand Inside this Room and it Will Wirelessly Charge Your Phone - Singularity Hub - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- AMD bundles Ashes of the Singularity with FX processors ahead of Ryzen's launch - PCWorld - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation being merged with the original game - PC Invasion (blog) - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Singularity - GameSpot - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- The roots of technological singularity can be traced backed to the Stone Age - Wired.co.uk - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Jide's new OS is like an Android version of Windows 10's Continuum - The Verge - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Jide Announces Remix Singularity: The Continuum Alternative for Android - XDA Developers (blog) - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- New Tech Makes Brain Implants Safer and Super Precise - Singularity Hub - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- One Android company wants to use smartphones to make PCs truly dead - BGR - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Remix tries its hand at the mobile-desktop hybrid OS with Singularity - Android Police - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Financial Leaders: Make Your Mark on the Future at Exponential Finance - Singularity Hub - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Remix Singularity is Jide's Android answer to Windows Continuum - SlashGear - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- AMD Radeon RX 580 Ashes of the Singularity Benchmarks Leaked 4K, Ryzen Combo, CrossFire and More! - Wccftech - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Damon Wayans Jr. Joins FX Sci-Fi Comedy Singularity - Den of Geek US - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- After Man? From Singularity to Specificity - Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) (press release) (blog) - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Why the Potential of Augmented Reality Is Greater Than You Think - Singularity Hub - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Damon Wayans Jr In Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen AI comedy - /FILM - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Ashes of Singularity: Escalation Gets an Update - CGMagazine - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Google Updates: Scuba, Singularity, SMS and suing - The INQUIRER - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Singularity Art Show Tonight In San Francisco! - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- Stardock celebrate v2.1 of Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation with a ... - PCGamesN - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Video: AI Is Getting Smarter, Says Singularity University's Neil ... - Wall Street Journal (subscription) (blog) - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- This Neural Probe Is So Thin, The Brain Doesn't Know It's There - Singularity Hub - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Citizen Science Means Anyone Could Discover Planet NineEven You - Singularity Hub - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Singularity University establishes new organisation in Denmark - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Singularity University opening organisation in Denmark - The Copenhagen Post - Danish news in english - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Does Zapping Your Brain Actually Help You Learn Faster? - Singularity Hub - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- What You Need to Know About Elon Musk's Plan to Fly People to the Moon - Singularity Hub - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Singularity: Explain It to Me Like I'm 5-Years-Old - Futurism - Futurism - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Singularity for PC Reviews - Metacritic - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Singularity (mathematics) - Wikipedia - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- See How This House Was 3D Printed in Just 24 Hours - Singularity Hub - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- NYC's Metrograph theater is running a sci-fi film series featuring Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and Metropolis - The Verge - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- 3 Exciting Biotech Trends to Watch Closely in 2017 - Singularity Hub - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- New Burger Robot Will Take Command of the Grill in 50 Fast Food Restaurants - Singularity Hub - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Are These Giant Neurons the Seat Of Consciousness in the Brain? - Singularity Hub - March 10th, 2017 [March 10th, 2017]
- How Fully Synthetic Complex Life Just Got a Lot Closer - Singularity Hub - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- Singularity University launches inaugural Canada Summit | BetaKit - BetaKit - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Singularity - Everything2.com - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Singularity (Game) - Giant Bomb - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation on Steam - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Approaching the World of Collaboration Singularity - CommsTrader - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Berkeley Lab's Open-Source Spinoff Serves Science | Berkeley Lab - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Beyond Politics: Innovating for a Sustainable Future - Singularity Hub - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Tune Into the Future of Fintech at Exponential Finance This Week - Singularity Hub - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Experts Weigh in on AI and the Singularity - Futurism - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Singularity | Mass Effect Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Quantum Computers Will Analyze Every Financial Model at Once - Singularity Hub - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Deloitte and Singularity University Extend Their Relationship To ... - PR Newswire (press release) - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation 2.3 update adds a new campaign today - PC Gamer - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Singularity and Docker | Singularity - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity gets a new fully-voiced campaign - PCGamesN - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- At Exponential Finance, the Singularity University Explores Visionary Applications of Blockchains - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog) - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Get It While It's Hot: Why Fintech Is a Goldmine for Investors - Singularity Hub - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Forget Police Sketches: Researchers Perfectly Reconstruct Faces by Reading Brainwaves - Singularity Hub - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Singularity Summit comes to SA | IT-Online - IT-Online - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- These 7 Disruptive Technologies Could Be Worth Trillions of Dollars - Singularity Hub - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]