On March 1 — just two days after Elon Musk appeared on the TED2013 stage — a SpaceX CRS-2 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on a resupply mission for the International Space Station. Two days later, after the righting of a glitch, its Dragon capsule delivered a half-ton of supplies for the astronauts on board. And four days after that, the SpaceX Grasshopper had its most successful test to date. This reusable rocket launched 80 feet in the air, hovered for about 34 seconds and returned once again to the center of its launch pad.

Elon Musk: The mind behind Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity ...So how did Musk, the cofounder of PayPal, get involved in space travel?

“It was from the standpoint of: What are the things that need to happen in order for the future to be exciting and inspiring? There’s a fundamental difference between a humanity that’s a space-faring civilization — that is out there exploring the stars and on multiple planets — compared to one where we are forever confined to Earth,” Musk says in today’s TED Talk, a conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson. “The goal of SpaceX is to try to advance rocket technology, and in particular to crack a problem that I think is vital for humanity to become a space-faring civilization: to have a rapidly and fully reusable rocket.”

Musk’s company has slashed the cost of rockets by, they say, up to 75 percent, nudging us toward the idea of human life being multiplanetary. But this isn’t his only endeavor that could change our relationship to travel. Musk is also the mind behind Tesla Motors, which builds electric cars, and SolarCity, a solar-power firm.

“I think it’s extremely important that we have sustainable transport and sustainable energy production. The overall sustainable energy problem is the biggest problem that we have to solve this century,” Musk says in today’s talk. “You have to come up with a really energy-efficient car, which means you have to make it incredibly light … We actually applied rocket design techniques to make the car light, despite the large battery pack.”

To hear more about Musk’s vision for the electric car, solar energy and commercial space travel, as well as his thoughts on how his divergent companies actually make sense together, watch this intriguing conversation. And here, more talks from visionaries in the field of transportation on what we might see in the not-too-distant future.

• Chris Gerdes: The future race car — 150 mph, and no driver
• Anna Mracek Dietrich: A plane you can drive
• Bertrand Piccard: A solar-powered aircraft
• Yves Behar’s supercharged motorcycle design
• Sebastian Thrun: Google’s driverless car
• Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind drivers
• Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock
• Robin Chase: Excuse me, may I rent your car?
• Kent Larson: Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city
• Burt Rutan sees the future of space
• Bill Stone: I’m going to Mars. You coming?

Watch the TED playlist “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” »

And see 5 fascinating cars of the future »

At TEDxKraków, participants had an unusual transportation option—a grass-covered van. Created to fit the theme “Secret Lives,” the idea for the van was dreamed up by Kasia Ogińska and was executed by Krystian Meresiński, Piotr Więckowski, Stéphane Perrin, Karolina Perrin, Karolina Bruszko, Konrad Kozakiewicz and a slew of volunteers who wanted to help — even by night and in the rain — to make it fresh and perfect for the event.  Those getting a ride in the van made sure to thank the driver, Julek Michalski, who also owns it.

This image originally appeared on the TEDx Blog. Head there to see many more great images from TEDxKraków » 

It’s an experience that can inspire road rage in even the calmest person: an urban traffic jam where cars crawl along at a pace of inches per hour.  As Jonas Eliasson, a professor of transportation at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), explains in today’s talk, traffic congestion occurs in almost every major city across the globe, despite constant efforts to dissolve it.

At TEDxHelvetia, Eliasson suggests a subtle approach — give people small incentives not to drive on crowded roadways at peak hours. Why not do more? Because keeping just a small percentage of drivers off the roads is enough to clear traffic.

Eliasson gives an example from his hometown, Stockholm. In January of 2006, the city instituted a pilot test of charging a small tax—just one or two Euros—for vehicles to cross the city’s main bridges, which bottleneck because they are very narrow. With the new tax, traffic on the bridges dropped by 20% almost instantly, leaving the roadways clear. When the pilot test ended in July of the same year, traffic returned the very next day—along with traffic jams.

In surveying drivers, Eliasson noticed an interesting pattern. When congestion pricing was first introduced, 70% of people opposed the tax. However, over the next few months, support quickly grew to 70% wanting to keep the tax. Almost no one felt that they were being inconvenienced.

“You have to admire car drivers, they adapt so extremely quickly … Each day people make new decisions,” says Eliasson. “Each day all of these decisions are nudged ever so slightly away from rush hour driving in a way people don’t even notice.”

To hear more about how congestion taxes can work, watch Eliasson’s talk. And after the jump, watch seven more talks with powerful ideas that might change our commutes.

Robin Chase on Zipcar and her next big idea
Robin Chase revolutionized the car rental game with Zipcar, making it possible to rent a car for just a few hours. In this talk from TED2007, she rings a warning bell that fuel-efficient cars aren’t enough to solve our climate crisis. She gives a suggestion for how to truly transform the way we relate to our vehicles—road pricing to inspire efficiency and carpooling.

Anna Mracek Dietrich: A plane you can drive
Human beings have wanted to create a flying car for the past 100 years. So why has there been no real breakthrough yet? In this talk from TEDGlobal 2011, pilot Anna Mracek Dietrich shares how she and her team approached the problem from a different angle: why not make a plane that can be driven on the road, thanks to foldable wings?

Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock
Bill Ford’s great-grandfathers were Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. And yet, he’s hugely concerned about what will happen as more and more cars flood our roads. In this talk from TED2011, Ford introduces us to “smart roads,” “smart parking” and “smart public transportation”—all of which can communicate with each other, and with drivers to help them make better decisions. The hidden benefit: saving fuel and the environment. 

Gary Lauder’s new traffic sign: Take turns
Roundabouts are far superior to stop signs when it comes to preventing accidents and saving gas. In this short talk from TED2010, Gary Lauder suggests a less costly approach—“Take Turns” signs that combine the best of “stop” and “yield.”

Sebastian Thrun: Google’s driverless car
Yes, Google’s driverless car looks cool in demonstrations. But the real purpose is to reduce accidents. In this talk from TED2011, Sebastian Thrun of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab shares his personal quest to save a million lives a year with this new technology.

Kent Larson: Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city
In this talk from TEDxBoston, Kent Larson imagines a new way to park in cities—with a folding car that pilots itself and takes up just 1/7th of the space of a traditional vehicle. This innovation would mean that far fewer parking lots would be needed to serve a much greater number of people. 

Shai Agassi: A new ecosystem for electric cars
The entire country could be oil-free by 2020, says Shai Agassi. In this talk from TED2009, he shares a fascinating plan — a network of battery-charging and battery-swapping stations that can charge electric cars while they are parked and on the go. As it works out, stopping for a battery change would still be less frequent than stopping for gas.

It’s 2012. And many of us no doubt imagined that flying cars would be all the rage by now. While that hasn’t happened yet, some major driving innovations are on their way down the pipeline.

In a new TEDTalk, Chris Gerdes of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (awesomely abbreviated as CARS) explains that he and his team are busy at work developing the motor vehicles of the future. One of their starting points? Studying the brainwaves of the best motorists in the world — professional race car drivers. The idea is to combine computer technology with human intuition and skill behind the wheel.

In honor of Gerdes’ work, here is a look at five cars we may be seeing a lot more of in the future. Sure, they don’t fly. But, hey, many allow you to sit back and enjoy the ride without having to do a thing.

Shelley, the autonomous race car
Nascar and Formula One racing are popular for a reason — professional race car drivers are masters at estimating the friction between the tire and the road, and instinctively being able to use the throttle and brakes to steer. Gerdes and his team have created a race car that can do these same things — without a driver. Nicknamed “Shelley,” their race car can drive itself at 150 mph while avoiding every possible accident thanks to an onboard computer. Shelley has taken high-speed spins around Thunderhill Raceway Park and navigated the 153 turns of Pike’s Peak hill climb route. As Gerdes explained to CBS News, Shelley’s algorithms could someday be in your car, helping you avoid collisions.

Google’s self-driving car
It’s amazing to imagine a car that can make every split-second decision for you, even delivering you home safely when you’re too tired to drive. Google’s DARPA Challenge-winning self-driving car has attracted a lot of attention. Developed by a team led by Google engineer Sebastian Thrun (watch his moving TEDTalk here), these cars use intelligent driving software, proximity sensors and extensive GPS data to figure out how to get from one point to another. What happens if the driver actually wants to do something? They can just tap the wheel or brakes and take back control. In May, the state of Nevada granted Google the first license for a car that drives itself, reports Time. Meaning that — head to Vegas, and you could potentially see the car being tested on the roads.

GM’s Electric Networked-Vehicle
This two-person vehicle looks something like a cross between a Mini and a Segway. Why would someone create such a thing? According to GM, by the year 2030, urban areas will house 60 percent of the world’s 8 million people — and standard cars might no longer be an option. The balancing EN-V car could help solve problems like traffic congestion and parking scarcity. Bonus: they are electric, and could also boost air quality while helping to lower oil reliance.

P1, the car that can’t spin out
Developed by students in Gerdes’ lab, this electric, steer-by-wire vehicle allows for each wheel to be tuned independently, maximizing performance while minimizing wear on tires. “We believe P1 to be the world’s first autonomously drifting car,” says Gerdes, explaining that the vehicle helped develop the racing algorithms used for Shelley. “It’s a concept we call ‘envelope control.’ Under envelope control, the driver can do absolutely anything, including drift — but cannot spin the car.”

Nissan’s PIVO 2 commuter car
A three-person commuter car, this Nissan concept looks like something straight out of the Pokémon universe with its bubble-like body. The small car uses a robotic interface, reminiscent of a video game, that both interacts with the driver and scans the environment for information. But the best part? This car spins and can drive sideways thanks to “by-wire” technology rather than traditional mechanics.