I thought 載る was the counterpart of 乗る for intangible things, but after seeing some examples that's not true. It's hard to decide which to use, is 乗る・乗せる for transportation and 載 for everything that isn't transporation? I've seen the first kanji for putting a pet inside a car, getting on a train, riding a wave of success, and the second for appearing on a magazine, a more subtle 置く, etc. so I'm assuming this is true
"乗る" means to ride/board and is mainly used for people (e.g. getting in a car).
"載る" usually means to be placed/carried and is often used for objects (e.g. loading cargo) or publications (e.g. appearing in a newspaper).
When in doubt, it's okay to write のる in hiragana, even native speakers do this when the nuance is unclear.
(I'm just translating the answer a native gave, you can check the sources yourself, if you don't mind Japanese.)
Reading another thread (https://ja.hinative.com/questi...), you can use it for things like a "chair". Apparently, Japanese people don't feel much of difference between 「椅子に乗って」and 「椅子に上がって」
Point is, not just transportation. it might also include animals not just people. 犬が車に乗る is something I see people say.
載る for putting a pet into a car is very rare, you'd be treating the pet like luggage/cargo.
雑誌に載る is correct, my IME does't even let me type 乗る.
If you start from some japanese def, 乗る first meaning is:
物の上にあがる
While 載る first meaning:
物が何かの上に置かれる
So, it's not really directly related to transportation at all. It's more like: "getting on" vs "being placed on". And then you have the other meanings after that. So it may be better to think in those terms instead to understand the difference.
