The first of its kind, a new hydrogen-powered passenger train is being developed by a French company and slated to be used in Germany starting next year. The ultra-quiet “hydrail” transit system is powered by hydrogen fuel cells that give off steam and water. The train pulls from a hydrogen fuel tank stored on the roof that generates electrical energy.

The aim is to start replacing some of Europe’s diesel-burning trains, many of which still run across the continent. Alstom unveiled the new train at InnoTrans, an annual trade show in Berlin this week. The initial test set will include 14 trains of this design, with testing and approval starting later this year.

Starting at the end of 2017, the train will run on the Buxtehude-Bremervörde-Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven line in the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony. Lower Saxony’s local transportation authority has meanwhile ordered 14 trains of the type. Testing and approval by the German Federal Railway Authority Eisenbahn-Bundesamt will commence in fall 2016 and is expected to be completed by end of 2017.

The Coradia iLint may be the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train, but it’s certainly not the first vehicle to run on hydrogen fuel cells. Stan Thompson, former strategic planner at AT&T and long-term advocate of the use of hydrogen for rail transportation, coined the term “hydrail” in 2004 to describe any type of rail vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel cells. There have been prototypes and hybrid trains in the meantime, most notably in Japan.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bahn, the largest railway operator in Europe, is working Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to bring its futuristic technologies to its train fleet. As green energy initiatives go, Germany continues to lead the pack, seeking out and testing sustainable tech for mass transportation systems and otherwise.

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At the intersection of 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and IBM’s famously advanced Watson computing platform sits Olli, an electric vehicle that can carry up to a dozen people.

This smart bus design features 30 advanced sensors to help it navigate around and communicate with other vehicles on the road. It is the first vehicle to use cloud-based computing from Watson to analyze high volumes of transportation data on the go.

It is also meant to humanize the experience of driverless vehicles, allowing passengers to interact conversationally with the machine on their ways to various destinations, “discussing topics about how the vehicle works, where they are going and why the car is making specific driving decisions.”

“These interactions are designed to create more pleasant, comfortable, intuitive and interactive experiences for riders as they journey in autonomous vehicles.”

With no need for a driver, passengers are able to sit anywhere and look out the windows, entering and exiting through a bus-like door much as they would on other forms of public transportation. The Olli could also help bridge the gap between large public systems and smaller forms of point-to-point transit.

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While talk continues of building a hyperloop system in California, Europe is ahead of the game, slated to construct the first working system of its kind. Hyperloops, proposed by entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, use pressurized passenger pods capable of attaining speeds of over 700 miles per hour, far faster than even the fastest bullet train.

Now, HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn announced that his company has reached an agreement with the Slovakian government. Their plan is to establish the Hyperloop transportation route from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia, and from Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary.

“Hyperloop in Europe would cut distances substantially and network cities in unprecedented ways. A transportation system of this kind would redefine the concept of commuting and boost cross-border cooperation in Europe,” said Vazil Hudak, Slovakia’s economic minister, said in a statement. “The expansion of Hyperloop will lead to an increased demand for the creation of new innovation hubs, in Slovakia and all over Europe.” Budgets still need to be made and feasibility studies conducted, but the creators hope to have an initial set of tracks deployed as soon as 2020.

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A new patent filed by airplane manufacturer Airbus turns passenger cabins into cargo containers, designed to be inserted and removed as a whole from the vehicle.

Using a docking module, the removed unit would then be transported across the runway and to the airport for passengers to board. Once everyone is in their seats, the cabin would then be taken back to the aeroplane and slotted into place, ready for take off.

“In addition, the boarding method makes the presence of waiting rooms in the aircraft building superfluous, and thus makes possible substantial economies in terms of area,”according to the patent filing. It all makes some intuitive sense, for flyers as well: might as well be seated in advance rather than waiting in the airport.

Aside from that more obvious application, however, the modularity could lend itself to other benefits, including the ability to reconfigure the interiors of planes on demand or over time, by adding or removing seats, lounges or other spatial features. Alternatively, the removed units could tie into other transit systems, becoming cars of an inter-terminal train or even an extra-airport transport truck, following the lead of containerization in the cargo shipping industry.

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Developed by engineers at Hiroshima University in Japan, this mobile folding ‘scissor bridge’ platform can carry people, cars and supplies across gaps in emergencies, like earthquakes, for instances, for which its country of origin is all too well known.

Designed for portability and inspired by origami, the steel structure can be deployed to help deal with landslides and floods that wipe out area bridges, or new voids that form when the ground shifts. The entire system fits on the back of a typical flatbed truck, able to make its way along conventional roads with typical size and span limitations. Its creators claim it is  “the world’s fastest, largest, strongest, and lightest expanding temporary bridge.”

Dr. Ichiro Ario and his team created the Mobile Bridge Version 4.0 as a prototype, but even this draft version is fully functional and able to unfold and refold in less than 5 minutes (though setting it up still takes a full half hour). While it could be a boon in emergency situations, the same system could be used to temporarily replace or work around bridges that are being repaired or rebuilt as well. As compact and efficient as the current design already is, no doubt additional iterations will also help improve it on all fronts.

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