But that’s not going to be the case for much longer. Imagine a world in which any given object could actually be two distinct things at the very same time – or, to be more precise, could occupy two states at once. This phenomenon is called superposition, and it’s the basis of quantum computing.
In quantum systems, we’re no longer limited by the ‘on’ or ‘off’ states that characterize ‘bits’ – the smallest elements of any current digital system. Instead, we have ‘qubits’ – objects that are zero, one, and any point in between, all at the same time. Quantum computing is already revolutionizing a huge number of fields, from cryptography to weather forecasting, and from pharmaceutical design to the creation of entirely new physical materials – and in the coming years, it’s also going to fundamentally change the way we think about mobility. But how?
