While stuck again in a huge traffic jam on our way to the airport, there was plenty of time to think about that something really has to change in our ways to move ourselves from A to B. Our transport systems for longer than walk or bike travels by train, car or airplane are already 1 or 2 centuries of age without any change except better trains, cars and airplanes. The philosophy and systems remained the same.

The main problem is that the infrastructure for this kind of transportation is costly to build and maintain, highly inflexible, a waste of a devastating portion of our environment and economy in terms of time and money. Parked cars all over the place, asphalt and concrete everywhere, long waiting times in traffic, train stations and airports, air pollution and more. It's a long list of concerns we obviously just accept. Additionally the fact that humans are still the drivers of vehicles which nowadays serve as a major killing factor for people and animals and is even used as terrorist weapon, needs to be re-evaluated. Yearly in traffic 1 1/4 million people are killed worldwide and that number will more than triple in the next 15 years.

Elon Musk proposes an alternative for mainly long distance with trains and airplanes with his Hyperloop. Impressive concept and technology but it needs a massive infrastructure change which will be again costly and inflexible. It's comparable to bullet, TGV or Maglev trains and similar, just a few steps beyond. 

For the short range, say from 3 to 300 km's, a few months ago Airbus showed of a far more revolutionary concept. Of course flying cars or personal airplanes like the sensational Lilium are great inventions but the killer idea is a split of the transportation vehicle in a pod, a driving unit and a flying drone. I haven't seen it yet but i can imagine that a watercraft unit is a good addition too. Of course everything electrically powered with auto pilots. The pod, with the people and luggage inside, is put on top of or underneath a transport unit, whether that's for land, water or air. I can imagine a system where the pods are privately owned and the transport units are in a public pool on a pay per use basis. No doubt everyone has personal wishes for luxury, comfort and features. The transport units are all alike. They drive, sail or fly autonomously and re-charge independently. For longer distance travels, "re-charging" means "changing" the unit. Just drive or fly to an exchange station and the pod is put to a fully charged transportation unit and off you go again. 

Imagine the consequences:

• Less parking space because pods are smaller than cars and can be shared or if privately owned, be "parked" anywhere, preferably in your backyard instead of on the streets. The pod is put there by a drone or lifted off a driving unit. The transportation units wil go away to re-charge themselves and serve other pods;
• Less roads because drones will fly you from town to town where probably only in-town you'll use a driving unit;
• Less expensive railway stations and airports. A big "parking lot" with exchange facilities is enough to change transportation units;
• A real flexible system where you can go from and to anywhere, whether that's with your own pod or a shared one. Land, water and air;
• Transportation units are pay-per-use shared which means that the most expensive parts of transportation is 24/7 used instead of doing nothing for more than 90% of their time;
• When on the road, pods can be connected to each other like a "road train" to save and share energy;

and more.

Of course it's possible to put pods on trains, ships, in a carrier airplane or maybe even in a Hyperloop tube. This is the future. I can't wait for it.

Drive, sail and fly safely until then :)