The tiny town of Tourouvre-au-Perche in Normandy, France no longer has to worry about how it will power its street lights. The Sun will handle that.
No, that's not an elaborate new Lite-Brite kit-- that's the possible future of energy. After years of work (and some last-minute delays), Solar Roadways has installed its first public energy tiles in Sandpoint, Idaho as part of a test. On top of pr...
The RoadPrinter by RP Systems is a paving machine that literally lays down brick roads. It still needs some human intervention, but helps lay down brick roads much faster than traditional methods.
Humans simply load bricks into the machine and it does the rest, carefully setting the bricks into position on the ground. I have no idea how long it takes to make a brick road the old way, but as you can see, it doesn’t take long with this machine. It spits out brick roads like a carpet being unrolled.
Check out these videos of the RoadPrinter in action around the world. The machine isn’t even that big, making it easy to get to job sites. I love watching odd machines like this at work.
[via Tech Insider via Laughing Squid]
The Rail-Road Vehicle is a new breed of freight-liner trucks. How are they different? They run on more than just roads! These massive metallic creatures are capable of hitching themselves to each other and running on rails, like a goods train.
Obviously, they come with two sets of wheels, one for the asphalt, and one for the rails. This may be fictional, but think about how it can massively alter the transportation industry. If one vehicle can complete a cross-country journey from point A to point B without having to make any switches on the way… Believe me that’s game changing!
Designers: Lou Chi-hwan, Zhang Yuanyuan & Liu Chang.
Warning System Road Reflectors provide enhanced safety in the event of road accidents by giving other drivers an immediate visual signal. The connected beacons can be user activated with a simple twist following a crash or even a simple car stall. Activating one will trigger all the reflectors in a designated vicinity to turn on, thereby warning oncoming traffic to slow down in order to avoid a pile up. The system is particularly useful in blind curves where drivers may not be able to brake in time.
Designers: Chung-Tung Lin, Yu-Han Lai
