Tomorrow's Transportation

How We'll Get There

From auto to aero and beyond, the Tomorrow’s Transportation interest area focuses on how will we "get to where we are going" in 2020. Today's caring adults, mentors and parents used to watch TV shows that featured spaceships and futuristic cities. Today youth are living in these worlds through virtual games and online experiences. At the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota's Wired for 2020 Event, we spotlighted the best and brightest spec cars, hybrids, solar, and other interesting ways we may get around in 2020.

For example, in early 2010 Minnesota Valley Transit Authority deployed a fleet of ten buses equipped with driver assistance technology developed by the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute at the University of Minnesota.  This technology uses a combination of GPS, sensors and maps to track the location of the bus down to the centimeter, allowing for safer, more accurate navigation on narrow shoulders and in inclement weather.  You can spot the buses driving through the Twin Cities by their "Bus 2.0" wraps.

Exhibit featured in the Transportation Interest Area at the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota's Wired for 2020 Event at the Mall of America

University of Minnesota's Solar Vehicle Project

The 2009 team of undergraduate engineering students intrigued participants with their latest solar powered racecar.  The team is in charge of researching, designing and constructing a solar vehicle every two years.  The students experience aspects of engineering that are beyond what can be presented in a curriculum.  The team showed off the sleek design of the new racecar and explained the fascinating solar panels, as thin as potato chips, that power the vehicle. 

 

 

 

Check out our photo gallery from the recent Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota's Wired for 2020 Event at http://bit.ly/MPM_Wired_for_2020_Flickr_Photos

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