11 Mind-Blowing GIFs Show the Future of Transportation

Impact

The world is on the brink of a transportation revolution.

Here's what's in: Driverless cars, flying hoverboards, electric planes, Hyperloop and roads that generate renewable energy. 

Here's what's out: Manual driving, gasoline, Amtrak, any mode of transportation that requires human effort and pollutes the environment. 

Within decades, we could be reminiscing on the days when driving was a thing.

... And when it took 12 hours to get to Europe by plane.

... And when it took more than five hours to get anywhere by train. 

"We are going to look back on this era like we do on the steam engine," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the New York Times Dealbook Conference in 2013.

Need proof? Here are 11 GIFs to help you visualize what the future of transportation will look like. Some of it's already here, and the rest will be happening sooner than you think:

Driverless pods

YouTube

Dutch driverless vehicle-maker 2getthere invented these nifty autonomous pods — and they will be buzzing around roads in Singapore by the end of 2016.

Solar-paneled roads

YouTube

In an unprecedented move to generate renewable energy, France plans to pave 621 miles of its roads with solar panels over the next five years. This initiative has the potential to power 8% of the country's population — roughly 5 million homes.

Self-driving cars ...

CarBuzz

... with an autopilot feature that avoids accidents for you.

YouTube

Tesla's driverless cars are coming in the near future — and its current electric vehicles' autopilot feature is already saving drivers' lives. Tesla S owner Joshua Brown caught video footage of his car swerving away from a truck that was about to crash into him before he even saw it.

Spherical tires

YouTube
YouTube

Goodyear just introduced its concept for Eagle-360 spherical tires at the Geneva International Auto Show in March that would allow more flexible mobility for driverless cars — no need to rotate the car to make turns. Parallel park? No sweat.

Vertical takeoff

YouTube

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is conceptualizing a plane with rotating wings that allow it to take off and land verticallysans runway like a helicopter — and the research should be complete by 2018

Personal electric planes

Lilium Aviation

A company called Lilium Aviation is creating a two-passenger electric plane that can also take off and land vertically — and travel up to 300 mph — by 2018. The company's goal? Make air travel part everyday life.

Super-supersonic jet planes

YouTube

Designer Skreemr's new jet concept is a supersonic plane that could fly from New York to London in 30 minutes. How? "Screamjet technology" that makes the jet lighter, smaller and faster, allowing it to travel up to 7,673 mph.

The Hyperloop

Ruth Reader/Twitter
YouTube

Musk's futuristic train replacement Hyperloop, which should be able to transport people and cargo at up to 700 mph through an airless tube, came one step closer to becoming a reality during its first test run in Las Vegas on Wednesday — and it could become a transit option as soon as 2020.