Read the Tomorrow Daily - cnet.co/1pheDAl A 360-degree, magnetic-levitation tire concept that could enhance autonomous car navigation; also, a drone-centric system for replicating drawings at any scale, anywhere.
The cars in the parking lot do NOT shift. They just showed that more cars could now be parked in the same space / place as compared to traditional parking lots.
First, let me just say that I'm not well informed on this, but: I read something were Neil deGrasse Tyson said that (Star War's) BB8's spherical body would (in reality) skid around on sand. Would that happen with the spherical tires? You guys mentioned that the video mentioned that the tires would be suitable or adaptable for different terrain, so I'm guessing there's some kind of technology allowing it to do so.
+Qwerty you forgot to say spherical wheels has way less traction which would make anyone crash on water or ice, nomatter if the materials can "adjust" to it, no matter how much traction you can have on a 2 inch line, it's still a 2 inch line which won't help much on a half a ton car at best
The drone could work better if there was something specifically designed for its purpose. One problem with it is that it "drifts" a bit when it moves due to it's momentum. This could be largely reduced if there were propellers pointed in all directions (or at least up, down, left, right, up and down) that have equal strength to oppose each other as well as the regular propellers to act against its load and a propeller so that it can actually move.
Magentic tires... your car would go flying if you drove over a manhole cover, or too close to a light pole on the street, or those guard rails on the highway. Also driving too close to other people will send their car flying, including people on bicycles, or people walking with baby strollers. I think it's too dangerous for the street.
If only Goodyear was actually a good tire manufacturer. But Maglev cars won't catch on for several decades, people already complain about the price of mechanic repairs, these tires will cost several hundred thousand dollars, and the cars themselves will be several tens of millions.
+Frank Magana Wouldnt really be drifting anymore.. The tires would just rotate differently to change the angle of your car during a turn to look like its doing the perfect drift. Wouldnt be as satisfying when you dont hear the tires screaming. =/
I don't see spherical wheels gripping the road surface all that well at all. I'm not one to always dismiss new technology, but this one screams having potential problems that will prevent it from being as good as current tires.
Magnetic suspension will control the acceleration and deceleration if there's no axels. Similar to how some roller coasters reach such rapid speeds in a short time.
Oh, yeah! Can't wait to have to buy new ones! They will be so expensive, you just leave the car on a railroad track, then buy a new car with the money.
Articles like this prove the vacuous nature of Cnet. Each sphere would require a magnetic levitation device and a battery, that would most likely be heavier than the car. This technology will be redundant before it is perfected. Simple flaws in design like the surface area of the sphere would not compare to the surface area of the standard tire we currently have. Not to mention if a car park could automatically move your car for you, what is to stop exploitation of that system?