Photo: popsci.com
Founded almost 150 years ago, back in May of 1872, Popular Science magazine has been a true staple of our modern society, bringing into discussion topics of science and technology for general reader awareness. Every year since 1988, the outlet is also firing up the brainstorming engines to come up with its list of the year’s most important innovations.
For 2020, a year that will certainly go down in history for many things, the PopSci staff didn’t cram into conference rooms anymore. Instead, it decided which are the best technologies and gadgets from a safe distance. No worries, the “100 greatest innovations of 2020” list came out just as fresh as before.
While the catalog is populated with many interesting or crazy innovations, of interest to us is the “Autos” chapter, where a total of 12 entries were listed. The “Grand Award Winner” was named the 2021 Acura TLX’s revolutionary front airbag. Interestingly, there were just two other automobiles specifically named on the list for their overall prowess.
And the PopSci staff made sure to give something to both the old and the new worlds. The 2021 Ford Bronco was selected as the representative of the classic automotive industry, with the Lucid Air named the forward-thinking electric vehicle of the year.
Popular Science praised the reinvented Blue Oval off-roader for its democratization of rock-crawling skills in particular – the new GOAT (“Go Over Any Terrain”) mode that “hands the work off to onboard computers, making” just about anyone a capable off-road driver on the fly. Other points of interest were the stick-shift option and the capability to get rid of the doors.
As far as the Lucid Air is concerned, the Dream Edition’s $161,500 price tag is a far cry from the 2-Door Bronco’s base price of $28,500, but it does bring with it zero emissions, a projected range of more than 500 miles (805 km) on a charge, along with 1,080 hp and some great fast-charging capabilities.
Still, if we have to choose, unless the $69,900 Air Pure comes out to play faster than envisioned (early 2022), we’d rather shell out less than $50k for a 4-Door Wildtrack Bronco and spend the rest of the cash on trendy options such as the $1,895 modular hard top or the $3,590 Lux Package equipment group, among others.
While the catalog is populated with many interesting or crazy innovations, of interest to us is the “Autos” chapter, where a total of 12 entries were listed. The “Grand Award Winner” was named the 2021 Acura TLX’s revolutionary front airbag. Interestingly, there were just two other automobiles specifically named on the list for their overall prowess.
And the PopSci staff made sure to give something to both the old and the new worlds. The 2021 Ford Bronco was selected as the representative of the classic automotive industry, with the Lucid Air named the forward-thinking electric vehicle of the year.
Popular Science praised the reinvented Blue Oval off-roader for its democratization of rock-crawling skills in particular – the new GOAT (“Go Over Any Terrain”) mode that “hands the work off to onboard computers, making” just about anyone a capable off-road driver on the fly. Other points of interest were the stick-shift option and the capability to get rid of the doors.
As far as the Lucid Air is concerned, the Dream Edition’s $161,500 price tag is a far cry from the 2-Door Bronco’s base price of $28,500, but it does bring with it zero emissions, a projected range of more than 500 miles (805 km) on a charge, along with 1,080 hp and some great fast-charging capabilities.
Still, if we have to choose, unless the $69,900 Air Pure comes out to play faster than envisioned (early 2022), we’d rather shell out less than $50k for a 4-Door Wildtrack Bronco and spend the rest of the cash on trendy options such as the $1,895 modular hard top or the $3,590 Lux Package equipment group, among others.
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