Let’s zoom fast into the future. Be amazed with the driver-less concept car. As you give Transportation Nation a quick tour, we, in turn, give you a tour inside the engines that will drive tomorrow’s vehicles. Given the globe’s current environmental situation, this gallery focuses on gentle alternatives to fossil fuel that can make our cars run at maximum efficiency without compromising the earth’s fragile condition. By giving us a peek at how power operates inside forms of transportation, this gives us an easy-to-understand overview of the complex technical processes that occur within the objects that have literally brought us to where we are.

The WheelSurf

The Wheelsurf is pure adrenaline. It is one of the most distinctive vehicles on the planet -- a single-wheeled, ride-inside conveyance that’s sure to get you noticed. Riding the Wheelsurf is not for those seeking transport alone...

How does it work?

The Wheelsurf consists of an inner and an outer frame. The inner frame has three small wheels that make contact with the outer frame. The outer frame is the actual rotating wheel and has a solid rubber tire. The rider sits inside the inner frame that also contains the engine, drive train and petrol tank.

The Wheelsurf is steered by shifting your weight. Although it has a hand brake, braking is limited to the counterbalance you can provide by leaning backwards. If you brake too hard, you will start spinning with the outer wheel. Which of course is exciting...

The Wheelsurf is not allowed on public roads in most countries. It is meant as a form of extravagant entertainment, as an exciting ride, or to enhance your commercial presentation.

You will be sure to be in the middle of attention, while surfing your Wheel!

The WheelSurf is a monowheel vehicle consisting of two frames, an inner frame and an outer 5’ 7" frame.

The Wheelsurf rider sits inside the inner frame along with a 56cc two stroke Stihl engine and the petrol tank.

The Wheelsurf tops out at around 30mph (50km/h) and the monowheel configuration gives the rider a unique experience.

Currently the WheelSurf is not road legal, and because smooth flat surfaces are the best place to run a monowheel this may be a problem.

However, this unique monowheel is also marketed for use in promotional displays and sheer frivolous enjoyment.

The overall weight of the Wheelsurf is 50kgs.

The SEGWAY

The Segway Personal Transporter (PT) represents the next generation in personal mobility, offering several advancements that make the ride even more intuitive and productive than ever before. Other examples of Segway Smart Motion™ technology and licensing of Segway Smart Motion technology to other third-party companies, demonstrate that Segway continues to challenge the assumptions and expand the boundaries of traditional transportation.

The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric transportation device invented by Dean Kamen and unveiled in December 2001. It is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" (a smooth transition, literally Italian for "follows"). PT is an initialism for personal transporter while the old acronym HT was an initialism for human transporter.

Computers and motors in the base of the device keep the Segway PT upright at all times. Users lean forward to go forward, lean back to go backward, and turn by using a "Lean Steer" Handlebar, leaning it left or right. Earlier HTs used a twist grip to steer by twisting the grip left and right. Segway PTs are driven by electric motors at up to 5.6 m/s (12.5 mph/20 km/h). Gyroscopic sensors, (see vibrating structure gyroscope) are used to detect tilting of the device which indicates a departure from perfect balance. Motors driving the wheels are commanded as needed to bring the PT back into balance.

In laws that regulate it, the applicable category is sometimes called "electric personal assistive mobility device" (EPAMD). A niche that Segways have been often adopted into is transportation across military bases, warehouses, corporate campuses or industrial sites, or neighborhoods in place of walking or bicycles.

Various models weigh from approximately 65 to 100 pounds (30 to 45 kilograms).


                                 SHELL VINTAGE CAR

For more than a hundred years, the antique automobile with a 9-hp, 2 cylinder engine built by French and Belgian manufacturers George Richard and Henri Brasier, was handed from one generation to another. 

In 2006, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation acquired the precious vintage automobile, and now it ia here at SM Science Discovery Center under Transportation Nation gallery.