News: a flying car capable of vertical takeoff and landing is being developed by the makers of a two-seater aircraft that turns into a car (+ movie).

Massachusetts-based company Terrafugia has announced it is working on a concept for a four-seater vehicle with motorised rotors, which can take off without the need for a runway.

Dubbed TF-X, the vehicle's wings and rotors are designed to fold into the side of the car when it's on the road, making it small enough to park in a standard garage.

The ability to take off from standstill would allow owners to take to the air from their driveways. Once in the air, it is expected to be able to fly nonstop for 500 miles.

The TF-X probably wouldn't be suitable for escaping traffic jams, however, as it requires a 30-metre-wide clear space around it during takeoff.

A working model of the aircraft is expected to become available to purchase within eight to 12 years.

Meanwhile Terrafugia's earlier flying car concept, the Transition, which last year flew for eight minutes at an altitude of 420 metres during its test flight, is set to become available to buy within two years, priced at £190,000.

In 2010, Terrafugia worked with Danish industrial designers KiBiSi on the second generation redesign of the Transition.

Other hybrid vehicles we've featured include a car shaped like a catamaran and designer Ross Lovegrove's idea for bubble-shaped cars powered by solar canopies – see all transport.

Here's more information from Terrafugia:

Terrafugia Shares TF-X Vision

Terrafugia Inc., the developer of the Transition street-legal airplane, announced its vision for the future of personal transportation. Building on its experience with the Transition program, Terrafugia has begun feasibility studies of a four-seat, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plug-in hybrid- electric flying car, the TF-X. Incorporating the state-of-the-art in intelligent systems, fly by wire controls, and currently available technology, the TF-X will further increase the level of safety, simplicity, and convenience of personal aviation.

"This is the right time for us to begin thinking about the future of the company beyond Transition development," says Terrafugia CEO/CTO Carl Dietrich. "We are passionate about continuing to lead the creation of a flying car industry and are dedicating resources to lay the foundations for our vision of personal transportation."

Terrafugia’s design team is excited to be looking ahead to TF-X development activities as the Transition programme shifts from research and development to certification, production, and customer support activities. The Transition serves as a Proof of Process for TF-X development and commercialisation through the many technical, regulatory, and usage challenges it has overcome.

By directly addressing congestion and other transportation challenges currently being faced internationally, widespread adoption of vehicles like the Transition and TF-X could result in significant economic benefits and personal time savings. Preliminary conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the TF-X concept have demonstrated their willingness to consider innovative technologies and regulatory solutions that are in the public interest and enhance the level of safety of personal aviation. Terrafugia is excited to be nearing production of the Transition and continuing to push the envelope of personal transportation.

Terrafugia (terra-FOO-gee-ah), based in Woburn, MA, is a growing aerospace company founded by pilot- engineers from MIT and supported by a world-class network of advisors and investors. The company name is Latin for "escape the earth." Terrafugia’s mission is to build practical flying cars.

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News: America's largest bicycle sharing scheme will begin this month in New York City, with 6000 bikes available to rent from docking stations in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.

The scheme, dubbed Citi Bike after its multi-million-dollar sponsorship from Citibank, will invite commuters and tourists to take advantage of New York's 700 miles of cycle lanes.

The May launch will see bikes placed in 330 docking stations across the city, spanning from 59th Street in Manhattan down to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn.

City officials plan to eventually expand the scheme to 10,000 bikes and 600 docking stations across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Thousands of New Yorkers have already signed up as Citi Bike members, paying an annual fee of $95 for access to unlimited rides of 45 minutes.

Cyclists who don't have a membership will be able to purchase a 24-hour pass for about $10, or a seven-day pass for $25, allowing an unlimited number of half-hour trips.

The three-speed aluminium-frame Citi Bike has front and rear LEDs that flash when the wheels are in motion and an adjustable seatpost to accommodate riders of different heights.

Both the bikes and docking stations are part of a system called Bixi, which was first developed by French Canadian designer Michel Dallaire as a cycle-share scheme for Montreal.

A Citi Bike app will also help cyclists to locate their nearest docking station, plan their route on a map and find local shops, services and restaurants.

The launch follows the successful roll-out of bike-share schemes in cities including London, Washington D.C., Paris and Barcelona, while Chicago and San Francisco are both preparing to launch their own schemes later this year.

French designer Philippe Starck recently unveiled a prototype bicycle crossed with a scooter for a free cycle scheme in Bordeaux, France.

Other city bikes we've featured include an folding electric bicycle by auto maker BMW and another folding bike with full-sized wheels – see all bicycles on Dezeen.

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News: researchers from IBM have redesigned the bus routes across Ivory Coast's largest city using data from mobile phones.

The project, by a team from IBM's research lab in Dublin, Ireland, is an example of how so-called "big data" can be mined for information that leads to improved policies and services.

The researchers looked at 2.5 billion call records from mobile phone users to work out commuters' movements.

The anonymous data came from phones in the city of Abidjan, where a deteriorating public transport system has prompted a huge and unregulated fleet of private minibuses and taxis to spring up.

Commuters' journeys in these private vehicles can't be easily monitored by the city's authorities, so the IBM team used time and location data from call records and text messages to work out frequent routes.

They then looked at how well commuters were served by the city's buses and came up with 65 possible improvements to existing routes, concluding that they could reduce average travel times by 10 per cent.

"If transit agencies could have an effective tool to quantify the travel demand, as well as recommendations on how to best design the transit network, cities would be able to better support travellers' mobility demand through a regulated and efficient public transport system," the researchers explained in their report.

The AllAboard project, which is currently only a research exercise, was entered into the Data for Development competition run by mobile phone operator Orange, an open data challenge inviting researchers to find uses for its huge datasets of call activity.

Olivier Verscheure, a senior scientist at IBM's research laboratory in Dublin, told the BBC that the project only hinted at what could be gleaned from such huge datasets.

"If we could have merged the telco data with city data, such as the bus timetables we could have the potential to completely change the existing network," he said.

"Analysis of public transport and telco data would show how people move in a city and allow planners to create a bike sharing infrastructure from scratch, for example."

Earlier this year we featured a concept to make highways safer with glow-in-the-dark roads and responsive street lamps – see all transport design.

Top photograph is by Abdallahh.

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News: Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic passenger spacecraft broke the sound barrier during its first rocket-powered flight in California yesterday.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo was brought to an altitude of 14,000 metres before being released by its carrier craft over the Mojave Desert.

The pilots then rotated the spacecraft to a vertical position and ignited its rocket, which propelled it beyond the speed of sound and took it to almost 17,000 metres above ground.

"The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt our single most important flight test to date," said Branson, the British entrepreneur who founded Virgin Galactic to be the world's first commercial space travel company.

"Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship's powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end," he added.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry two pilots and six passengers on two-and-a-half-hour sub-orbital flights and was unveiled in 2009, a year after its carrier craft WhiteKnightTwo was unveiled – see all news about Virgin Galactic.

The Virgin Galactic terminal in New Mexico was designed by Foster + Partners, the British firm that recently announced proposals to 3D-printing buildings on the moon - see all news and stories about space.

Top image is by Marscientific.com and Clay Center Observatory.

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Pedals replacing the handlebars allow the 4StrikeBike to be cycled with the hands and steered simultaneously.

These pedals click into a fixed upright position so the bike can also be used normally.

"The 4StrikeBike has adjustable pedalling handlebars and can be used as an ordinary city bike in traffic as well as a touring bike for longer distances at higher speeds," Jan Willem Zuyderduyn of TSG Essempio told Dezeen.

A chain runs up one side of the frame between the hand pedals and the standard mechanism linking the foot pedals to the back wheel.

The crankshaft has a special freewheel system that allows the bike to be cycled with both the upper and lower body, or just the legs while getting on and off.

Retired Dutch surgeon Lex van Stekelenburg came up with the idea for the bike after developing back problems, following years of performing lengthy operations while standing with a hunched posture.

Van Stekelenburg took the concept to TSG Essempio, who developed his proposal and prototypes further.

We've featured a number of unusual bicycles, including one made from see-through plastic and another constructed out of cardboard. See more cycling design »

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