Flying cars are no longer an element of science fiction and a large number of companies are scrambling to put this new type of mode of transport into action - albeit for now, the so-called flying car is more like a personal vehicle that discards cars.
As early as the CES opening at the beginning of this month, Intel CEO Section introduced the flying car Volocopter. As the world's first pure electric two helicopters, Volocopter with white cobweb design, take 18 rotorcraft on-site take off .It is understood that the flight Cars support unmanned mode, can carry two adults for half an hour flight.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, said at a DLD conference this week that flying cars will be faster than expected, and I think this will happen in 10 years. Someone flew over Dallas. '
Stirring up the tide of the market, talent training program will also be flashed January 23 news, Udacity announced that it has officially launched a flight nanotechnology courses, the online education company in September 2017 revealed that the relevant courses are being designed to help interested Developers learn flying car concepts, dynamics and other related knowledge.
Sebastian Thrun, a tenured professor at Stanford University who is known as the "father of driverless cars," and the founder of Udacity, said when talking about flying cars that the scene of an aerial flight It will come true. 'This is a very relaxing affair. The future of traffic jam on the road will not exist. We will be able to fly freely in the air and will not be as crowded as ground transportation.'
Giant invisible
As a global travel giant, Uber is in full swing to build their own flying cars.
In November 2017, Uber signed an agreement with NASA to develop a flying taxi by 2020. It is understood that the goal of the project is to create a vertically-flying flying car transport system.
Uber said it plans to test the project in cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai by 2020 and officially launch its taxi service by the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. Uber estimates that the cost of expeditions via UberAir, The cost of using UberX (preferably sedan) service is similar.
Google co-founder Rarry Page spent $ 1 billion investing in Silicon Valley startup Kitty Hawk, the founder of which was also the founder of Udacity, with the launch of the same name electric aircraft in 2017 4 Month in the clear lake on the outskirts of Los Angeles for a test flight.
In the layout of the flying car market, there are also Chinese giants.In recent days, Tencent was exposed in the B-round financing of Lilium, a leading aeronautic automotive company in September 2017, with a total financing amount of 90 million U.S. dollars. LGT, Atomico and Obvious Ventures With the vote.
The company tested and successfully piloted a full-size, two-seat flying car in April 2017 and is planning to bring the flying car into life by 2025 for use on the Air Taxi service.
Geely Automobile signed an acquisition agreement with Terrafugia, a US flying car company, in November 2017 to acquire the latter's entire business and assets.It is reported that the first product after the acquisition will be unveiled in July 2019 and will be a ground Taxiing take off hybrid products. "UAV delivery services have begun to launch a series of business scenarios, including the transport of medical supplies, industrial field surveys, etc. 'Around the application of flying cars, an unnamed insiders on the 21 A Century Business Herald reporter said, 'However, air taxiing in urban space is still in its early stages of development and is somewhat fantastic.'
Ten years to achieve?
In terms of cost, in the short term, flying cars actually have their inherent driving force.
'A Lilium jet's' fly 'will operate more than 10 times as efficiently as a regular taxi and fly to any destination, regardless of road and road conditions,' said Lilium sources.
According to Lilium Company, taking ferry crossing from Manhattan to JFK for example: If you take a taxi, the entire journey takes 26km and takes 55 minutes and costs $ 56-73; if you hit the Lilium jet's 'fly' and the distance is 19km , Which takes 5 minutes and costs $ 36. After a large-scale operation, it can be reduced to $ 6.
The trend of ground transportation is becoming more and more saturated, the flying car is more like a trend.Data show that in 2017 China's total car sales exceeded 28 million units, the continuous growth of car sales will bring a series of problems such as traffic jams Flying cars seem to be a solution.
In addition, the development of small UAV technology makes small personal flight tools possible.According to "2017 Emerging Technology Maturity Curve Report" released by Gartner predicts that the development of commercial UAVs will lead to further advances in machine learning algorithms, and its It is expected to become the mainstream application in 5-10 years.
But on the other hand, there are many problems with flying cars. "As a personal vehicle, the ideal form of flying vehicles is the vertical takeoff and landing technique, whereas the VTOL aircraft needs a huge lift body to maintain flight, Carrier volume can not be too large to form a contradiction. "The aforementioned industry insiders told reporters 21st Century Business Herald.
Fuel is also a problem. "Flying vehicles are not feasible for medium and long distance travel, because they are too bulky to carry too much fuel and the system itself is less fuel efficient and less fuel efficient than conventional aircraft." According to the source, Short-distance traffic is theoretically feasible, but problems such as engine noise will make the product unsuitable for densely populated neighborhoods, so it will be more of a gimmick for the foreseeable future.