Yes many things tried in the 1800s are coming back (IE: Driverless cars or self driving cars,, been around a long time and many of us have rode in them.. We just did not think of them as "Driverless cars" (many theme parks have them, though the ones in the parks are a tad loose in the steering.. they follow a track (metal rail) with a guide that keeps them on track).
I too have read about airless tires (Mitchlin's Tweel to be specific, it is mentioned in the article) for some time.. Interesting technology.. I like the Hancock design better than the Mitchlin one.
However improvements in technology, improvements in manufacturing of materials and in the materials themselves have made some of that old failed technology reasonable... This may be one such case.. I have also seen airless tires purposed and in fact in use on some designs (test bed stuff).
One of the problmes Science Fiction writers have is the fact that often fiction becomes Fact.. I am seeing a case of it right now.. I have seen many in the past and in at least one case the hot science fiction gimick in a movie was actually BEHIND Science fact by several features. Was still a good movie (Firefox) though.
