Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"It is change ... that is the dominant factor in society today... the world as it will be. This means that ... every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.""
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Air-Taxi | ||
| A flying taxicab with autonomous features. |
| The air-taxi found its way past and around other ground-cars and finally moved onto a smooth upward-slanting track and gained speed. Then it lifted upward with a slight jolt. Seldon, who had automatically been strapped in by a webbed restraint, felt himself pushed down into his seat and then up into the webbing. He said, "That didn't feel like antigravity."
"It wasn't," said Hummin. "That was a small jet reaction. Just enough to take us up to the tubes." What appeared before them now looked like a cliff patterned with cave openings, much like a checkerboard. Hummin maneuvered toward the D-7 opening, avoiding other air-taxis that were heading for other tunnels. "You could crash easily," said Seldon, clearing his throat. "So I probably would if everything depended on my senses and reactions, but this taxi is computerized and the computer can overrule me without trouble. The same is true for the other taxis. --Here we go." They slid into D-7 as if they had been sucked in and the bright light of the open plaza mellowed, turning a warmer yellow hue. Hummin released the controls and sat back. He drew a deep breath and said, "Well, that's one stage successfully carried through. We might have been stopped at the station. In here, we're fairly safe." The ride was smooth and the walls of the tunnel slipped by rapidly. There was almost no sound, just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along. "How fast are we going?" asked Seldon. Hummin cast an eye briefly at the controls. "Three hundred and fifty kilometers an hour." "Magnetic propulsion?" "Yes. You have it on Helicon, I imagine." "Yes. One line. I've never been on it myself, though I always meant to. I don't think it's anything like this." "I'm sure it isn't. Trantor has many thousands of kilometers of these tunnels honeycombing the land subsurface and a number that snake under the shallower extensions of the ocean. It's the chief method of long-distance travel." |
| From Prelude to Foundation,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Doubleday in 1988 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the hoverlimo from John Varley's 1992 novel Steel Beach. Also, see the Tin Cabby from James Blish's 1957 novel Cities in Flight, the gyrocab from You are Forbidden! by Jerry Sheldon, the helical from John Weston's 1950 story The Heli-Cab Hack and the aircab from Harry Bates' 1940 story Farewell to the Master.
Thanks to Connor Lawrence for writing in with this item.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Prelude to Foundation
More Ideas
and Technology by Isaac Asimov
Tech news articles related to Prelude to Foundation
Tech news articles related to works by Isaac Asimov
Air-Taxi-related
news articles:
- Lilium Electric Air Taxi Prototype
- Skai Air Taxi Costs The Same As Uber
| Elon Musk's Traffic Tunnel Challenge Is Boring |
| HVSD, Kitty Hawk's Electric Plane |
| Skai Air Taxi Costs The Same As Uber |
| Asimov and Musk - Boring Company Tunnel vs. Street Race |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Convincing video shows progress (and limitations).
'The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.'
'Against Death doth no simple grow.'
'His legs relaxed with a rattle as he cut off all power below his waist... and ran his eye down the Help Wanted - Robot column...'
'It can be mass-produced only in the orbiting factories.'
'He realized that it was not quite a clear lens.'
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed down the long aisles...'
'Here is the chronoscope... Scansion depends upon a special curved field...'
'It's illegal to hold back information during a psyche test.'
