Will Flying Cars Soon be a Reality?

Ben Hadges
By Ben Hadges
February 1, 2017Videos
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Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. But imagine being able to get through the gridlock.. By flying over it.

Yifang “Derrick” Xiong, co-founder, ehang inc.:

“it’s going to be a flying car.”

Once the stuff of science fiction .. The technology has recently taken off. It’s a long ago dream of automakers. G-m envisioned a sleek-rocket like flying car in the late ’50s and ’60s. Today.. Nearly a dozen companies large and small around the globe — including drone makers – are working on new aircraft capable of soaring over crowded roadways.

Chinese company ehang is trying to figure out how to scale up its drones to safely transport people.

Massachusetts -based terrafugia is taking pre orders for its plane that folds up into a street legal car.

While most companies are using batteries and electric motors, Israeli-firm urban aeronautics is developing a small gas-powered drone using helicopter engines.

John Hansman, aeronautics/astronautics professor, MIT:

“there’s not question we can build a vehicle. I can build a vehicle tomorrow that will carry two people or three people for a half an hour.”

Mit professor john hansman chairs the federal aviation administration’s engineering research advisory committee. He says it’s not the aircraft but issues such as air traffic control, safe landing areas and even noise pollution that will be the biggest hurdles.

John Hansman, aeronautics/astronautics professor, MIT:

“i actually think it’s going to be ground infrastructure that allows the vehicles to operate in the most useful places then it’s going to be important.”

Passenger planemaker airbus — has a silicon valley subsidiary called a3 (a-cubed) that later this year plans to test an aircraft called vahana. Airbus envisions the vehicle as an autonomous air taxi.

Zach Lovering, director, a3 Vahana:

“they would call the vehicle on a mobile app, then once they buckled up and agree to the flight then the vehicle is ready to take off and in the meantime, in the background, the vehicle is clearing their flight plan with the air traffic management system and then it takes them from that landing pad to their destination.”

Vahana sees the service becoming a reality in about 10 years. While that timetable may be lofty

With so many companies working on flying cars…

It’s no longer the stuff of dreams.

Peter Banda, Associated Press

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