What Exactly is a Flying Car?
The concept of a flying car is hardly new, whether or not you first saw the concept watching the kids cartoon the Jetsons in 1962 or the Disney movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968. The structure of a flying car is still changing; one concept is that you can go from driving down the street to seamlessly flying in the air. Another design allows for a 5-10 minute transformation from car to flying car. Will the car take off like a helicopter or will it need to take off like a small airplane and need a runway? All of these designs are in the works and it’s not clear which design will win over consumers.
Do We Need Flying Cars?
Much of the rhetoric around flying cars is whether or not we actually need them, will it actually solve traffic jams and congestion or will it create new problems. Some believe that flying cars will make traffic jams a thing of the past, while others argue that putting the ordinary driver behind the wheel of a flying car is just asking for more trouble. Many of the developers have taken this very issue into consideration when it comes to designing their flying cars.
Airbus is launching their Electric Flying Taxi’s next year and these flying cars will have pilots when introduced to the public, but only to help consumers have confidence in their product, as the entire operation of the Flying Taxi can be controlled remotely. The Airbus Flying Taxi will take off from the ground much like a helicopter and will fly predetermined routes eliminating the concern of cars flying all over the sky and running into one another.
Which Flying Cars are Making Their Debut?
Reality check it is 2018, no seriously and these flying cars are coming now!
PAL-V is already in testing and should be made available for purchase in 2019. While they are only making 90 of them their current price tag is $575,880 USD. They plan to launch a PAL-V Liberty Sport edition will only be $344,173 USD.
VTOL by Airbus is already being worked into Uber’s plan for air taxis of the future by 2020, dubbed Uber Elevate.
SkyDrive by Toyota will light the 2020 Olympic Torn for its debut.
Making a Flying Car Fit in Today's World
Ever wonder why it is taking so long to get flying cars out to the market? Well with any new technology that is planned to fly through the sky there are lots of regulations it has to pass to make sure it will be safe. We are now in a time where we can plan virtual flight plans that can correspond with one another to avoid midair collisions. If the design is too bulky it won’t fit on city streets, in parking spots, parking garages and garage in your home. So designers and developers have to work hand in hand to create a flying car that will fit into the parameters of a current size vehicle’s dimensions.
The idea is that these Flying Cars will take you places, but that you will not be piloting them yourselves around the city airspace. This will help ensure that there are no midair collisions by people behind the wheel of their flying cars.
When Will Flying Cars Be Mainstream?
The key factors that need to be met to make flying cars mainstream in todays world are: safety, design and affordability. If a company can ensure the safety of the people who use its product it will be widely accepted. If the design of the flying car will easily fit into the existing designs surrounding current automobiles acceptance will be easier for consumers to add a flying car to their lifestyle. If the price tag is right, where not only the super rich can afford to buy a flying car, the mainstream public can begin to buy into the new technology rather than watch from the sidelines.
Which design will win over the public for mass acceptance, the PAL-V, SkyDrive, VTOL or another flying car? Whoever wins mass acceptance will set the stage for all future flying cars.
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