Transportation
Transportation-related items, e.g. public transit, buses, subways, cars, bicycles, and more.
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Background: One unfortunate consequence of the invention of the car is that cities started being designed for car-only use. In most cities built in the last ~70 years, the concept of a high-density walkable residential-and-commercial space only exists in shopping malls and amusement parks (Figure 1). The Issue: The main issue here is that cars…
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The Issue: Car turn signals (or “blinkers,” if you prefer) make an audible “click… click… click” noise when they’re active (Figure 1). Bizarrely, this sound is both 1) not customizable by the driver and 2) identical for both the “turning left” and “turning right” signal. Proposal: The fix is so obvious. Just as a user might set…
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Background: Many automobile drivers enjoy zipping around other cars and rushing ahead to a red light as fast as possible (Figure 1), then slamming on the brakes and waiting for other cars to catch up. It’s surprising that people are so motivated to drive like maniacs to reach a red light, since there’s no prize…
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Background: In the years before the invention of the car, the only way to design a city was with walking (or at least public transit) in mind. However, once cars became widespread, cities started being designed with wide roads and large areas set aside for parking. The Issue: This style of design made driving very…
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Background: Occasionally, people will apply a sticker to the back of their car that says something to the effect of “Baby on board!” This allegedly has a nebulous beneficial purpose in informing other drivers of the presence of a relatively helpless infant in the vehicle, but it also has a major downside: specifically, it is…
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Background: Boat aficionados occasionally claim that sleeping on a boat is particularly relaxing due to the way the boat (and bed) is gently rocked by the waves. The Issue: Unfortunately, buying and maintaining a boat is expensive and might be completely infeasible for people who don’t live near a large body of water! Proposal: The…
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Background: A car owner may sometimes be ticketed for parking in a location that was valid, but became invalid due to a highly specific restriction (e.g. “street sweeping every 2nd Tuesday, 8–9 AM”). These “rare” restrictions can be hard to remember or notice. Proposal: Thanks to modern omnipresent surveillance infrastructure, a person’s cell phone can now…
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Background: Every so often, a ridiculous story comes out about someone driving 400 miles to the wrong location because they went to the “right” address (“123 Snake Street”) in the wrong city. In the ancient “paper map” days, this type of mistake would be nearly impossible, but modern GPS systems make it possible for a…
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Background: Cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles all share the roadways.However, drivers often entirely fail to notice bicyclists and motorcyclists. One study even suggests that drivers may often literally tune them out entirely: https://www.google.com/search?q=car+drivers+don%27t+notice+bicycles+study. For this particular idea, let’s focus on motorcycles, although the same general principle will also apply to bicycles. The Issue: At night,…
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Background: Automobile names come in many categories: some are whimsical (e.g. “Ford Fiesta,” “Fiat Panda,” “AMC Gremlin”), while sports cars are often named more “professionally” (“BMW 507“) or aggressively (“Dodge Viper,” “AC Cobra,” “Lamborghini Diablo”). The Issue: Maybe the name of the car influences the behavior of the driver. Consider how the following (sadly not…
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