For the most part air travel is still pretty awesome (minus interactions with the braintrust crews of the TSA). You hop on a plane in California and in just 5-hours you are sitting on the beach in Hawaii. Amazing stuff.
A few things that make the flight time take longer than it should are crappy boarding/boarders (don’t get me started) and the wait between door closing and the aircraft pulling away from the gate. Stirling Dynamics plans to speed things up with the WheelTug, a self-driving nose wheel for the Boening 737NG airplane. The WheelTug contains electric motors that are powered by the airplane’s Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), this will allow the pilot to backup and taxi without using the jet engines thrust or a ground-tug vehicle. Less machinery, employees, and wait time – sounds like a win to me. Video of the WheelTug in action after the break.