Amsterdam, Zurich, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Oslo and more are all great cities of the world which are succeeding in making the lives better for their residents via innovative transportation policies. Over the years, Streetfilms producers have “visited many places we thought were doing best practices.” This group of videos they created along the way highlights amazing urban environments around the world.

“Founded in 2006, Streetfilms has become the go-to organization for educational films about sustainable transportation, and inspires action and behavioral change worldwide. Individuals, public agencies, non-profit organizations, schools, and transportation advocacy groups use Streetfilms to educate decision makers and make change for livable streets in their communities.” View more here.

Robert Fielding’s Oz-some art cars once lit up desert highways; now they’re being painted, illuminated and photographed in their final resting places.

One does not simply drive across the Australian Outback (even in a Subaru) without being prepared for the worst. Those who took the oft-inhospitable, mostly desert region that makes up most of the Australian continent lightly have left cautionary reminders, in the form of dozens of rusting abandoned vehicles, scattered across the parched red wastelands.

Many of these junked cars, trucks, and even the odd ute (yes, we said “ute”) or two can be found in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY for short): a 39,633.4 square mile Aboriginal local government area that occupies the remote north-west corner of South Australia state. A mere 2,276 people (as of 2016) reside in the APY lands; one of whom is artist, painter and photographer Robert Fielding (above).

Fielding is of mainly Aboriginal heritage and his home base is Mimili, a small community of under-300 situated in the rocky, drought-stricken Everard Ranges. It’s no surprise desperate travelers abandoned their vehicles in the scrubby desert just off the Stuart Highway (“The Track” through The Outback). No doubt their forlorn presence struck a chord in young Fielding, who was born in Lilla Creek just north of the APY lands.

“I’m salvaging what belonged to the elders of our communities throughout the APY Lands and from Indulkana and Mimili, and bringing these cars to life,” explains Fielding. The artist’s use of these abandoned relics of modern life as media for expressing traditional indigenous art offers a novel method of interpreting the Aboriginal experience through the prism of recent history. In other (and much less) words, it’s cool!

Fielding’s long-exposure night photographs are the result of a labor-intensive process involving the application of reflective paint and the strategic placement of natural light. “I’m lighting them up with tealight candles and giving it another feeling and another ghostly effect with what’s going on,” according to Fielding. “There’s a light within this vehicle that’s hidden in crevices throughout.” Unpredictable weather conditions and the chaotic flickering of the candles try Fielding’s patience and test his stamina as he waits to capture the perfect shot.

Fielding has no issues when it comes to redefining prehistoric art traditions for the modern age, and he’s eager to apply the latest digital technology to assist his photography. “The reason I like new media is the camera is a tool that indigenous people are very strong and proud to be in front and behind the lens,” he explains.

Fielding has stayed close to home and close to his subjects while working out of the Mimili Maku Arts center in the APY Lands. Recognition has come from afar, however, since he was awarded top prize in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards twice in the past three years. He has also left the APY to host solo exhibitions of his work in Adelaide and Melbourne, while several of his photographs have been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia. It seems that even in The Outback, a short drive can take you a long way.

Why do most of our brand new cars still look like they were released in the 1990s? Judging by most of the concept designs released over the last few years, it seems like we’re destined to slide from the clunky, boring silhouettes of the late 20th century right into dorky, bulbous autonomous vehicles with absolutely nothing stylish and fun in the mix. According to car design engineers, the primary reason for the serious post-1970s decline in the aesthetics of everyday vehicles is simply shrinking profit margins for manufacturers. Fun and exciting car design still exists, but the catch is – of course – a very high price tag.

Ground Stealth Fighter SUV by Karlmann King

High-end auto manufacturer Karlmann King presents a luxury sports utility vehicle (unofficially known as ‘Ground Stealth Fighter’), built to perform in extreme temperatures with pretty much any luxury you can imagine at hand. Features include a limo-style rear passenger compartment, Playstation 4, mini fridge, Nespresso machine, safe, Apple TV and rainbow mood lighting. Considering that it takes a team of 1,800 people to design and 30,000 hours to manufacture just one, it’s not surprising that it costs about $1.85 million.

2018 Aston Martin Lagonda Vision Concept

Aston Martin takes its understated classic style and kicks it up a few notches with its 2018 Lagonda Vision, a fully autonomous luxury vehicle with a sleek profile and a windshield that stretches over the entire yacht-inspired cabin. The Lagonda is the first of the vehicle maker’s new line of electric cars, aiming to bring automotive luxury into the future.

Jaguar D-Type: From 1956 to 2018

Ever wish automakers would revive classic designs from the 1940s – 1970s for modern usage? The golden era of the automobile brought us a whole lot of unique silhouettes and fun styling that we just haven’t seen since. It’s certainly not for everyone, but Jaguar is re-releasing its classic D-type race car, which first debuted in 1956. Only 25 of them will be built at the Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in England. But in this case, there’s no electric engines, no contemporary interiors. Every single part is being produced to the original specifications.

Lyonheart’s Interpretation of the Classic Jaguar E-Type

Another classic design revived for the 21st century is the Lyonheart K coupe, a reinterpretation of the Jaguar E-type. Designed, engineered and hand-built in England, the K features carbon fiber panels, an aluminum chassis and a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engine. Price tag? About $582,000.

Vision Mercedes-Maybach Six Cabriolet

Mercedes brings us a cabriolet version of its Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, a 750-horsepower electric concept car with 200 miles of range. Like a lot of recent concepts, it’s got one big cabin with accessible storage rather than a separate trunk. It’s full of glowing lights and buttons for the feel of a boat that’s also a spaceship. You guessed it, this one is also “luxury of the highest order” (in Mercedes’ own words) with a price tag to match.

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A Balm For Boring Contemporary Cars 14 Fun Stylish Modern Vehicle Designs

Guests at a Japanese inn in Hakone were shocked when they removed their hotel-provided slippers only to watch them roll away and self-park in a neat row. Later, taking a seat at the traditional low tables known as chabudai, floor cushions wheel themselves into place automatically to the surprise and delight of onlookers. It’s all part of ‘ProPILOT Park Ryokan,’ a temporary experience engineered for the hotel by Nissan to promote its self-parking vehicle technology.

Obviously, there’s a big difference between a wooden slipper on a lobby floor and a full-scale vehicle, but Nissan says it uses essentially the same sensors and algorithms for both. Do we really need our slippers to scoot into a perfect line? Are we not capable of putting them there ourselves, and parking our own vehicles, too? Sure. But you have to admit, this is way more fun (and imagine how many bad parking jobs it could avoid.)

The self-parking feature is available in the latest version of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf vehicle, which uses both sensors and a rear camera to ease itself into a spot without driver input at the push of a button. The idea, according to the carmaker, is to “liberate drivers from one of the most tedious, and at times the most challenging, tasks of driving” so you can “park perfectly.” It’s all part of a three-stage ramp up to get us all accustomed to autonomous driving, with fully driverless vehicles expected in 2020.

Of course, the slippers bring to mind existing household technology like robot vacuums, too. Doesn’t it make you wonder whether we’re in for a future in which all of our possessions know where they belong, and automatically revert to them when not in use?

In the future, will our autonomous vehicles simply sit within our homes like a part of the living space, eliminating the need for garages and parking spots? Probably not. At least, not for most of us. Concepts like the new SYMBIOZ car and house combo are clearly made for the richest among us, and it’s not likely that most existing housing will be retrofitted to accommodate our driverless cars, especially since many people will likely use car services instead of owning their own vehicles. But Renault’s concept shows off one vision of how some of us might integrate autonomous cars into our lives in the decades to come.

“The way we use our cars is changing,” says Thierry Bolloré, Renault’s executive vice president and chief competitive officer. “Already a car is more than just a way to get from one place to another. It’s becoming an interactive and personalized space that connects passengers to other cars, people and objects around them. Looking to 2030 we imagine new scenarios with more efficient energy use, connectivity and autonomous driving scenarios that will improve how we live and travel.”

Presented at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the SYMBIOZ concept envisions the emissions-free,  all-electric car as a room within a room, entering the home to offer additional seating and make the transition between home and travel more comfortable. It’s easy to move objects and children back and forth between the home and the car, and once the car is brought inside, it starts to charge from the home’s energy systems automatically. The car can even act as an energy generator in case the power goes out.

Clean energy means the car won’t bring in nasty exhaust fumes. The car-home combo shows it parking on a special circular pad that can be raised up to the second level on demand, freeing up space below and keeping the vehicle secure. Inside the vehicle, you’ll find a retractible dashboard and front seats that pivot to the back to enable easy conversation between passengers. What do you think – would you take advantage of technology like this, if it were accessible to you?