This Week in Flying Cars

Jalopnik notes that an experimental flying car called a "Maverick" crashed into a tree in Canada.

Jalopnik is also creating a list of the greatest flying car concepts.

CNN.com takes a look at various flying car ideas.

Terrafugia--the one company closest to bring a "roadable airplane to market--announced that it is developing a plug-in hybrid model.

Congestion is on the Rise (but Flying Cars will Save Us)

INRIX released its new Traffic Scorecard Annual Report and apparently congestion in the US is on the rise for the second straight year, but worldwide there is substantial variation in traffic levels:

Traffic as an Economic Indicator
With many economic indicators, such as household wealth and retail sales, trending toward the positive in 2013, INRIX’s comparison of congestion in 2012 versus 2013 year-to-date indicates how the overall economic climate affects national traffic congestion. Key global findings include:
Among all 15 countries analyzed worldwide, only three (Luxembourg, Ireland and the U.S.) have experienced increases in 2013. Only one country had increased traffic congestion in 2012 – Luxembourg. In Europe, the countries with the biggest declines in traffic have the highest rates of unemployment as they continue to struggle through the European debt crisis
In 2013, traffic congestion in the U.S. increased each month for the first three months of the year – the first such consecutive month increase in two years. This increase is in line with a steady increase in employment in the first three months of 2013 (+1.3%)i.
So far this year, 61 of America’s Top 100 Most Populated cities have experienced increased traffic congestion. This is a dramatic shift from 2012, where only six cities experienced increases and 94 saw decreases.
Seven of 2012’s Top 10 Worst Cities for Traffic in America have experienced increasing traffic congestion in 2013. The largest increase to date is in Boston (+30%), likely a result of the Boston metropolitan area boasting unemployment figures that were 1.2 percentage points lower than the national average in February 2013ii.
In Europe, traffic congestion fell 18 percent in 2012 and continues to spiral downward in 2013 with a further 23 percent decline in the first quarter. Eighty-one of the 94 European cities analysed have experienced decreases in traffic congestion in Q1 2013.

A piece of good news to accompany the worsening congestion is that Hyundai engineers have developed a flying car concept that can fly over all those poor people stuck in traffic:

Automaker Hyundai recently held what seems like the best office-wide contest ever, asking its R&D engineers to show off their ideas. And they certainly did, unveiling a multi-rotor flying electric concept car.

VW's Hovercar: The Future of Flying Cars is Maglev

This is a month or so old, but I missed it. The above video is of a VW hovercar concept (check out the hovercar negotiating what appears to be an anarchist parking lot at about the 2:50 mark!). Here is a story from the Environmental News Service about the contest VW had in China that inspired the maglev car. Rather than consider the impracticality of embedding electromagnetic sensors into road networks let's just revel in the awesomeness of the vision. Other winning concepts were the "Music Car" and the "Smart Key."

This Week in Flying Cars

Jalopnik.com had a great piece about the 10 craziest flying car failures. Link here. My favorite is pictured above. Name one thing that looks safe there.

David Graeber in the Baffler looks at the economics of flying cars here.

Paleofuture--which if you don't read you really should--looks at how 1923 thought 1973 flying cars would look here.

As a bonus, here is a link to another failed dream: the self-making bed.

Jetpacks, Flying Cars and Electric Planes

The above video is one approach to jetpacks. Below is another from Martin Jetpack. Or check out Jetpack International.


The LA Times has a story about flying cars, though it is really about roadable planes. The focus is Terrafugia:

Now, a Massachusetts company hopes to commercially market a flying car — although "driving plane" might be a more accurate description.
At last week's New York International Auto Show, Terrafugia Inc. of Woburn, Mass., unveiled the Transition, a two-seat aircraft with foldable wings. Pending regulatory approvals — which by no means are assured — the company plans to sell the contraption by 2013 for $279,000.
"You can pull out of your garage, fill up with 91 octane at a gas station, drive to the nearest airport, unfold your wings, perform a preflight check and take off," said Terrafugia Chief Executive Carl Dietrich.
So far, he said, about 100 people have put down $10,000 deposits to be among the first buyers.
The idea of a flying car may seem like a pipe dream, but the company says modern technology, such as GPS devices, air bags and high-strength composite material, has made the Transition safer for the consumer. The company even offers a vehicle parachute system.

Gizmodo highlights an electric plane. From the post:

Recently unveiled at the Aero Expo in Freidrichshafen, Germany, Pipistel's new Panthera four-seater plane can be ordered with a standard, albeit highly efficient, gas engine. But it's also available in an all-electric model for those preferring an aircraft that produces less air and noise pollution.
Understandably, the Electro edition, which will rely solely on state-of-the-art electric batteries, has a considerably shorter range than the gas model. About 250 miles compared to 1,150 miles on fossil fuels. But charging it at the airport should be considerably cheaper than filling a fuel tank. And since most people will probably be leery about flying in an electric plane given the stories of electric cars randomly stopping, the Panthera comes equipped with a high-speed full airframe parachute system which will deliver it safetly back to Earth if there's a problem.

Here is the company's website.

New News about Flying Cars and Taxis

The Terrafugia flying car, or roadable airplane, has received the high honor of NMA animation! See above video. The future is, as always, almost here.

New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow was officially debuted. This is a unique vehicle in that it has been designed specifically to be a taxi rather than some other car adapted to taxi use. Nissan hopes to market the vehicle elsewhere.

At NRDC's Switchboard blog Mark Izeman wonders about losing some of the recent environmental gains from hybrid engines with the conventionally powered Taxi of Tomorrow:

Nearly seven years ago, the first hybrid yellow taxis rolled onto the streets of New York City as part of an effort to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions. Today, about5,000 of these cleaner, greener taxis—nearly 40 percent of the total fleet—are in operation, working to cut air pollution, lower noise levels, and lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. The city’s hybrid taxi program was one of the first of its kind, and has served as a model of urban sustainability for other cities around the country.

I'll note that New York's efforts to require hybrid technology was blocked by a lawsuit brought by taxi medallion owners, and the courts found that New York City does not have the authority to regulate emissions standards. This lawsuit hasn't really made waves, but it seems like a big deal as cities expand their interests in environmental regulations. In addition, it seems cities should be able to regulate pollution that affects public health, or at least they should be able to if the federal government won't and citizens want it. Here is what Mayor Bloomberg said about the lawsuit last year:

“The cities are those that are addressing real-world problems, like climate change and energy policy,” he said. “The federal government seems unable to address those issues.”

Meet Stanley Wissak, an 84 year old taxi dispatcher, who owns 140 NYC yellow cab medallions. That means he is worth about $140 million. Read about him here.

A New Entrant to the Flying Car Market!

The PAL-V One has successfully completed a test flight/drive thing. (See above video) From the press release:

A PAL-V offers the choice of flying like a plane or driving like a car. This means fast door-to-door mobility for private individuals as well as professionals and organizations. The flying range will be between 350 (220 miles) and 500 km (315 miles), depending on the type, pay load and wind conditions. Driving, a PAL-V will have a range of about 1200 km (750 miles). It runs on gasoline like a conventional car and there will also be versions that use biodiesel or bio-ethanol. It can reach speeds of up to 180 km/h (110 miles/h) both on land and in the air.On the ground the slim, aerodynamic, 3-wheeled vehicle combines the comfort of a car with the agility of a motorcycle thanks to its patented, cutting-edge, ‘tilting’ system. Driving, a PAL-V accelerates like a sports car and drives through curves like a motorcycle.

Flying, a PAL-V is like a standard gyrocopter. It is quieter than helicopters due to the slower rotation of the main rotor. It takes off and lands with low speed, cannot stall, and is very easy to control. This makes a PAL-V one of the safest types of aircraft. Obtaining a licence requires only 20 to 30 hours of training.

Thanks to its very short take off and landing capability, it is possible to land a PAL-V practically anywhere. For take-off, a strip of 165 meters (540 feet) is enough and it can be either paved or grass. Governments are already preparing for increasing traffic with Personal Air Vehicles like the PAL-V. In the United States and in Europe government-funded development programs are determining the infrastructure of ‘digital freeways’ to provide a safe corridor using GPS technology. The technology is available today to allow personal air traffic to grow safely. PAL-V Europe N.V. is determined to play a leading role in this market.

Terrafugia also flew/drove their prototype from the Plattsburgh Airport last week. Hopefully Google will get around to making an autonomous flying car. That will be cool.

We will soon all drive flying cars underwater!

DARPA is pushing for flying cars again. They may just want to hire Batman because they want a submersible aircraft, too.

As for the flying car, apparently one of the problems the military has with their cars is that roads offer the enemy a guide for where the vehicles are going. (Maybe they should follow the slugs.) As DARPA explains:

DARPA said the TX will "provide the flexibility to adapt to traditional and asymmetric threats by providing the operator unimpeded movement over difficult terrain. In addition, transportation is no longer restricted to trafficable terrain that tends to makes movement predictable."

As for the underwater plane, don't call it a flying submarine:

Announced last year, the agency's Submersible Aircraft research project is exploring the possibility of making an aircraft that can maneuver underwater with the goal of revolutionizing the US Department of Defense's ability to, for example, bring military personnel and equipment to coastal locations or enhance rescue operations. DARPA said that the concept being evaluated here is for a submersible aircraft, not a flying submarine. It is expected that the platform will spend the bulk of its time in the air and will only spend short periods of time submerged according to the agency.

According to DARPA: "The difficulty with developing such a craft comes from the diametrically opposed requirements that exist for an airplane and a submarine. While the primary goal for airplane designers is to try and minimize weight, a submarine must be extremely heavy in order to submerge underwater. In addition, the flow conditions and the systems designed to control a submarine and an airplane are radically different, due to the order of magnitude difference in the densities of air and water."

I love the idea of flying cars (though I don't care so much about the underwater plane), and these DARPA competitions are a great use of incentives. Maybe the future really is up in the air.

Yet another flying car!

There are so many flying cars available these days it's like we live in the future. Terrafugia is the latest entry into the crowded marketplace. Their design is similar to the Aerocar, which was a model of roadable aircraft. What this means for metropolitan structure is unclear, but if these become popular there will be a spike in traffic at smaller airports. While it may seem unlikely that these vehicles will become commonplace, it's important to remember that about 85 percent of Americans live within 20 minutes of an airport. These cars can be convenient if their cost comes down and the price of fuel stays low (both are unlikely). Then we can worry about designing roads in the sky and how to keep the flying drivers off of their cell phones.