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Germany's aerospace agency built a safer rail car
An aerospace agency might seem like an unlikely place to find a breakthrough in railroad safety equipment, but that is exactly what the engineers at the German Aerospace Center (better known as DLR) have recently come up with. As Wired reports, DLR engineers have designed a new less smash-prone crumple zone meant to reduce the impact of train car collisions.
Terrafugia's flying car Transitions into a safer, better, tamer-looking personal transporter
Whether you classify it as a roadable aircraft or a flying car, Terrafugia's Transition looks resolutely set on avoiding vaporware status and becoming a bona fide commercial reality late next year. It's ironic, then, that the latest development is being illustrated with a bunch of renders, but what they show is a significantly redesigned body, which now comes with FAA-approved safety features and brings the hybrid vehicle closer to its final shape. The new design integrates lessons learned from the Transition's test flight last year to improve the wing shape and retraction mechanism, while also including an impact-absorbing crumple zone in the nose. The two-seater now also comes with a touchscreen center console -- because nothing signals modernity better than a touchscreen -- and can be seen in all its computer-generated glory on video after the break. %Gallery-98250%
