2. Meet the American Turtle: the first combat
submarine, designed in 1775 by a Yale College
student in his 30s named David Bushnell. The
oak and iron vessel measured 7.5 feet (2.3
meters) tall and 6 feet (1.8 meters) wide across
its midsection. A solo pilot would crank two
propellers and maneuver a rudder by hand. To
attack, the operator was meant to drill a screw
into a ship's hull and light a time fuse, which
would be attached to a charge of gunpowder.
Then he would crank like mad to get the heck
out of Dodge. Roadways today are peppered
with technology and designs initially developed
for military applications. Chris Gerdes, director
of the Center for Automotive Research at
Stanford University, pointed to the Jeep as the
most prominent example of military vehicles
influencing civilian mobility. "This really went
from iconic military transport to iconic
expression of freedom and mobility," he wrote
in an email.
HAND-POWERED SUBMARINE

3. A house, a map, a bathroom, and a car: Those are the widely varied applications that inventor
Buckminster Fuller found for his Dymaxion (dynamic maximum tension) concept. Shown here is
Fuller's first Dymaxion Car, which could carry up to 11 passengers, travel up to 120 miles per hour
(about 145 kilometers per hour), and average 28 miles per gallon of gasoline (a little less than 12
kilometers per liter). For comparison, the most efficient minivans in the 2012 model year are rated
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at only 24 miles per gallon (just over 10 kilometers
per liter).
LIGHTWEIGHT "DYMAXION" CAR

4. Pictured here is the Gossamer Albatross, which in 1979 became the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English
Channel.
Sponsored by DuPont, inventor Paul MacCready built the lightweight craft from carbon fiber tubing, balsa wood, clear
Mylar, and Kevlar, with the addition of some wire and foam. He engineered a series of human- and solar-powered aircraft
between 1959 and 1980, and in 1971 he founded AeroVironment – a company today known for its unmanned aircraft
systems and charging equipment for electric cars.
The 22.5-mile (36.2 kilometer) Albatross flight lasted just under three hours--about an hour longer than anticipated. And
Bryan Allen, the long-distance cyclist who powered the 70-pound Albatross through that grueling journey over water
despite leg cramps and dehydration, later told AeroVironment, "There were so many unknowns on that flight that I could
not be certain we'd make it, but I was certain I'd use every resource in trying."
GOSSAMER ALBATROSS

5. A scale model of Leonardo da Vinci's aerial screw, pictured here in an exhibit at the Sofia City
Art Gallery in Bulgaria, gives visitors a glimpse of one of the inventors' most famous schemes
for a flying machine. Sketched in 1493, the design called for a spiral-shaped, rotating surface
made from iron wire and linen made "airtight with starch," and powered by a human
passenger. The screw, also known a the "air gyroscope," is credited as the first rotary-wing
aircraft concept, but Leonardo's design would have been a flightless bird
LEONARDO DA VINCI’S HELICOPTER

6. This photo shows a flier strapped into a jet pack from Jetpack International over
Denver, Colorado. The company makes three jet pack models, each weighing 180 pounds.
One model, sold only to specially trained pilots, can fly for an estimated nine minutes or 11
miles (18 kilometers), up to 250 feet (76 meters) in the air.
PERSONAL JET PACK

7. For SkySails, a company
headquartered in
Hamburg, Germany, high-flying, huge
kites are the basis of a business
aiming to transform the shipping
industry. Already, SkySails has
attracted about 50 million euros
($67.6 million) in investment for its
automated towing kite systems, which
include onboard launch, recovery, and
steering systems, plus a rope, control
pod, and towing kite that swoops in
figure-eights hundreds of meters in
the air in front of the ship to generate
propulsion power.
SKYSAILS TOWING KITE

8. The Knight Bus is a triple-decker that
offers a topsy-turvy brand of public
transportation on demand. Forget taxis.
This machine can shrink to squeeze
through tight spots, and passengers can
buy hot chocolate or a toothbrush on
board.
Wands sadly remain the stuff of fiction,
but the Knight Bus illustrates concepts at
work in real-world transportation
systems. Telematics, for example, have
helped advance "demand responsive"
and community-based flexible transport
services to help fill the gap between
buses and taxis, especially in rural
areas. Routes can be optimized based
on real-time demand and passengers
can be assigned dynamically based on
the location and status of vehicles in the
fleet.
HARRY POTTER "KNIGHT BUS"

9. The technology has seen real-world
operation, notably in German and Japanese
demonstration projects, and in 2004
Shanghai launched the first commercial
maglev line after two years of trials.
Connecting the Shanghai airport to
downtown, the Shanghai Maglev Train
(pictured here) travels up to a blazing-fast
431 kilometers per hour, or about 268 miles
per hour.
But the up-front costs are steep. In 2008,
Germany ditched plans for a 40-kilometer
(24.9 mile) maglev project in Munich after
cost estimates ballooned to more than 3
billion euros, from a previous estimate of
1.85 billion euros. But maglev isn't over and
out yet. This spring, Japanese officials gave
the go-ahead for construction of a 9-trillionyen ($111.4 billion), 320-mile (515-kilometer)
maglev line between Tokyo and Osaka, much
of it underground. If all goes according to
plan-and maglev projects rarely do-the two
cities will be connected by a 40-minute train
ride by 2045.
MAGLEV TRAIN

10. Demonstration models that Google, BMW, Volvo, General Motors, Stanford University, and
others have built for testing look like modified regular cars (which they usually are
-- computing gear can fit in the trunk). But designers have come up with more futuristic
concepts, like the one pictured here from San Francisco industrial design shop Mike &
Maaike. Dubbed Atnmbl ("autonomobile," derived from autonomy and automobile), the
seven-seat design does away with the steering wheel, brake pedal, and driver's seat. It's
envisioned as an electric- and solar-powered model for the year 2040.
SELF-DRIVING CAR

11. In the late 1800s, a short-lived experimental transportation system in southern New Jersey took contraptions
that looked like upside-down bicycles and mounted them on 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers) of rail for a smoother,
faster ride than one could expect on bicycles of the day. More recently, the idea of a pedal-powered monorail
has been revived and updated at a Rotorua, New Zealand, amusement park by a company named Shweeb.
Similar to the bicycle railways of centuries past, the Shweeb system is meant to reduce rolling resistance, "by
running hard wheels on hard rail," according to the Shweeb website. The design also seeks to cut wind
resistance by positioning pedaling passengers in bullet-shaped hanging "pods" with their feet forward, as on a
recumbent bicycle. The pods hang from 8-inch-wide (20-centimeter-wide) rails constructed 19 feet (5.8 meters)
above street-level pedestrians and traffic.
SHWEEB MONORAIL