Tech portrayed in Sci-fi transportation movie has always been ahead of time when compared to the existing technology, especially futuristic ones. But where do they draw the inspiration to portray the future in such bizarre/ jaw-dropping/brilliant way?
Ideas from scientists, sci-fi novelists and visionary architects have always had their influence. Above all, the incredible mind has played its part too.
When it comes to the technology used in all these transportation movie, the sky has always been the limit.
But the question here is. Is it entirely fictional? Or is it conveying an idea about the future technology that is about to arrive soon?
Absolutely not! Some ideas are so brilliant and innovative that they actually came to be true.
Some of them are waiting to be in the future.
Let’s have a look
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Directed by the visionary, Stanley Kubrick the movie set a benchmark when it comes to sci-fi movies. The movie featured a lot of tech-based innovations which were so well-thought that it came to be true later on.
Speaking about transportation system used in the movie, the most important and significant one was the pan-am space clipper. This space plane depicted in the movie has the ability to take passengers from our planet to a space station (Space Station V).
Years later, space shuttle came to be true when Russia launched a low-earth space shuttle on April 9, 1971. Transportation to the space station came to be true in the year 1971 when NASA launched their first orbiter in the space shuttle system OV-101 out of a modified Boeing 747.
2. Star Wars (1977)
The cult classic Star Wars began its journey in the year 1977 and is continuing. The movie has managed to continuously astonish people with its jaw-dropping visual effects. Apart from the visual effects, Star Wars has always been praised for the creativity that is being put behind the cinema in setting the mood for the audience.
Among the various technologies depicted in the movie, the most sought-after technology was the land speeders. The hovering car concept, although featured in many movies, the most noted one was the one in Star Wars.
In one of the recent events hosted by Renault, a new concept car was unveiled by Yunchen Chai. It is a hovering car which is the winner of the car of the future design. Yes, hovering cars is not very far from realization. Let us look forward to flying over the roads very soon.
3. Blade Runner (1982)
Directed by Ridley Scott, it is a neo-noir science fiction which portrays Harrison Ford as a cop who is in pursuit of fugitives that escape back to earth from off world colonies. A classic, which has no equal.
I’m sure all of us have dreamed about flying, not on airplanes, but on our very own cars. How great it would be if we could avoid the traffic and hover above other vehicles? This movie has depicted that fascination about flying a car and landing on top of tall buildings. It is purely a vision for mankind for quite long.
Well, many aerospace companies like DeLorean, Terrafugia etc gone so far in research of manufacturing commercial flying cars. It is not very far that we realize our imaginations.
4. Back To The Future 2 (1989)
Back to the future is indeed iconic in every sense. The story revolves around a mad genius who invents a car that takes you to the different time zones by travelling around to the past and future. This adventure/comedy science fiction transportation movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis.
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Hold on! Time machine has not been invented yet. But yes, the hover board that is depicted in the movie is definitely a dream that has come true. Recently in 2016 a company named Hendo has introduced a prototype levitating hover board.
5. Total Recall (1990)
I hope most of us have come across this Schwarzenegger movie at some point in our life. Long before we send space orbiting probes, and the ones which landed on Mars, we fascinated about life on Mars. Martians we depicted even in cartoons and television commercials.
Total Recall is a cult classic movie that features a self-driving car with a creepy humanoid robot. In it, Schwarzenegger boards the Johnny cab and tries to ride in it without saying a destination and ends up tearing the humanoid robot from its pedestal.
A self-driven cab is now not a dream but a realization. General Motors have announced that their Robot Taxi service will be ready to go by 2019. Soon you will be riding Zoox taxis that are driven by robots. Woo-hoo!
6. Demolition Man (1992)
Directed by Marco Brambilla, Demolition man is a Science fiction movie that has a lot of new technological vision. The lead roles are done by Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The movie revolves around these two men; one a cop and the other a notorious criminal.
The movie has an autonomous GM Ultralite Police Car that uses Biolinks to adjust the setting of the car in accordance with the driver. Biolinks are not very far away. We have it on our phones or at a place we work. Soon your vehicles will have these and we will have them unlocked by scanning our fingerprint or our iris.
Fujitsu has already predicted that biometrics will be used as car unlock system and will be used to create a personalized driving experience. Now you can forget the hassle of carrying around keys everywhere.
7. Minority Report (2002)
This is another neo-noir movie starring Tom cruise, where he is a cop who is after future criminals. The movie is directed by the well-known director Steven Spielberg. The core theme of the movie is a conflict between free will and determinism. If a crime can be forecasted, can it be stopped? In minority report, the cops predict a crime with the help of 3 psychics they call ‘precogs’.
There is a nail biting scene in the movie where Tom Cruise jumps about vertical car lanes to capture a criminal. Do you think we can have these kinds of roads in the near future? Oh yes we can. Architects Christopher Christophi and Lucas Mazarrasa in 2014 have suggested a feasible design that vertical transportation for megacities will soon be realised in the near future.
8. HER (2013)
Her is about a lonely writer who develops a unusual relationship with an AI-powered operating system that meets his every need. It is a romantic science fiction drama written, directed, and produced by Spike Johnze. It has a great cinematography and is well written, and it takes the viewers through an emotional roller coaster. The lead role is handled by Joaquin Phoenix.
Unlike the other movies listed here, ‘Her’ suggests that in future there won’t be many cars on the road, and people will rely mostly on public transport.
Sounds shocking? Come on, we will have to conserve fuel in the future if at least for the coming generations.
Many American cities already have a huge reduction in personal vehicles as people started using public transportation. I believe a lot of us agree to the fact that it saves energy, reduces traffic and pollution.
9. I Robot (2002)
I’m pretty sure you have seen this Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan movie. It happens to be a neo-noir science fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. A futuristic movie, it shows an era of robots that assist humans with house-hold work and goes berserk when its program is corrupted.
This transportation movie features a concept car Audi RSQ that is capable of autonomous driving. We have already discussed regarding the cars that drive autonomously and we know that soon it will be a realization and cars will be driving around on their own.
For now, vehicles like Audi A8 and various Tesla cars are capable of autonomous driving. Want to know how it works. Well, put it in automatic mode and take your hand off the steering and your legs off the pedals and the car will automatically sense the traffic ahead and drive automatically. Now you don’t need to get a sore foot trying to drive in traffic.
10. Iron Man 3 (2013)
You all know Tony Stark, the Iron man. Many of you have watched the trilogy umpteen times, especially the third part in which the villain is the infamous Mandarin. Spoiler Alert!
Have you noticed in this transportation movie that there is a flashy Audi concept electric car? It’s not just designed for the movie. The car (R8 e-tron) is real and the beast of an electric vehicle can run 62mph in 3.9s, has 456bhp and have the ability to run 280 miles on a single charge?
Anyway, electric cars are not something new. But an electric car having that much power and runs several miles is a dream come true.
Tesla has revealed their supercar ‘Roadster’ which is the fastest electric car in production. It goes from 0-60 in 1.9 sec and has the ability to go 620 miles on a single charge.
