While many are focused on fixing the legacy assets of another era, a group of innovative billionaires are training their talents on transforming the "sleepy realm of transportation," observes Kevin Robillard. Can they overcome the inherent obstacles?
"Technology moguls are brimming with ideas for bringing flying robots, self-driving cars, people-moving tubes and space-traveling tourists to the sleepy realm of transportation, which hasn’t seen a major shakeup in decades," writes Robillard. "But the people who changed the way you shop, send money and search for information are finding it won’t be as easy to change the way you drive, ride and fly."
"They’re confronting a transportation sector where public investments are drying up, engineers complain about crumbling roads and bridges and it’s been ages since government initiatives created the likes of the Interstate Highway System. So the billionaires are trying to adapt their shared disrupt-or-die ethos to an industry marked by an obsession with safety, heavy regulations and a fear of failure."
"Can these big-thinking magnates fill transportation’s innovation void?"
Read the full story: Billionaires and transportation toys
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University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
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