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On their way to your neighbourhood? No, it’s not April 1st. When heavyweights such as Airbus start putting serious money into projects, you’d better start taking them seriously. Even Uber is getting in on the action, releasing a 98-page white paper late last year outlining its plans to bring “flying cars” to commuters by 2026. AUTONOMO FLYING CAR Your Next Mode of Tran I f you’re a (relatively!) old dude like me, you may remember the regular stories in magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science in the 50s and 60s about some backyard tinkerer who’d built a car that could fly . . . or a plane that could be driven on the highway. Indeed, the concept featured on a cover of Popular Science way back in 1926. (Remember the Model T Ford was still being made in 1926 and first powered flight was only made 23 years earlier). 14  Silicon Chip I’m not sure if many (any?) of those flying cars were much more than a thought bubble – certainly there weren’t too many flying cars in our skies or on our streets as the century ticked over many decades later! But given the rather sensational advances made in aircraft, electronics and computing in very recent years, it looks like at least some of those stories might be coming true. We’re not claiming this is an exhaustive list by any means – you can find many more on line. But you’ll also find that many of them (and perhaps even some shown here) are nothing more than “vapourware”. Indeed, some are claimed to be typical internet scams, ready to separate the gullible investor from their hardearned! by Ross Tester Some companies have even made it through to prototypes and expect The AeroMobil siliconchip.com.au “Mark my word: A combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” Henry Ford, 1940. Fortunately for pilot Stefan Klein, the AeroMobil was fitted with a safety parachute for its inaugural flight. Strangely enough (!), there is no mention of this minor setback on the Slovak company’s website – they’re still saying you can order one this year for 2019/20 delivery. The price: not finalised yet; all they are saying is “several hundreds of thousand Euro”. If we take a guess at €500,000, at current exchange rates that’s a bit over $AU700,000! (www.aeromobil.com) OUS RS – nsport? to start sales this year with delivery in the next two or three years. The photo above, the AeroMobil, is real – AeroMobil have been developing the flying car since 1990, although not always with 100% success – their AeroMobil3 spectacularly crashed and was written off on its maiden flight in May, 2015 (see above right). The co-owner of AeroMobil, Stefan Klein, survived with the aid of the car’s inbuilt safety parachute and suffered only minor injuries. The craft itself was not quite so fortunate. siliconchip.com.au The AeroMobil is not autonomous – it requires a pilot, although at the moment that’s likely to be only an LSA (light sport aircraft) licence. Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk However, Larry Page (you may remember him as co-founder of Google) has put together a company named Zee.Aero, with reports of their prototype actually flying “after hours” at their base at Hollister Municipal Airport, California, USA (long after other users had left for the day). Page’s dream is to have a plane/car which is autonomous – driverless on the road and pilotless in the air. Along with putting in $100 million of his own money since it was launched in 2010, Page has been incredibly secretive about his involvement with Zee.Aero and the company itself – in fact, staff only refer to him as GUS, the guy upstairs! (Page used to live on the second floor until Zee. Aero needed the space). The only information on Zee.Aero’s operations have come from other pilots using Hollister Airport and very occasionally spotted (and sometimes even photographed) a strange looking plane. Page is also behind a second start- up, Kitty Hawk (now where have we heard that name before?) who are actually working on a competing design to that of Zee.Aero. Reports suggest that Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk are not only independent of each other but Page makes sure staff actively compete against each other! Airbus/A3 Back to Airbus (yes, they of the A380 etc) and their “Project Vahana.” Actually, it’s more correct to say this is being developed by A3, which is a It’s not exactly a new concept, as this cover from Popular Science, March 1926, clearly demonstrates: “Rides both roads and air”, it says! February 2017  15 Artist’s rendering of the all-electric, eight-rotor point-to-point VTOL aircraft from Airbus/A3 Project Vahana, with an “inside view” inset above. It’s being thought of as next generation’s taxi . . . Graphics: Project Vahana division of Airbus, based in Silicon Valley, California. A3, like Uber and Zee.Aero, are all working on VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, as distinct from flying cars. Their attitude is that you won’t need to take to the highway if you can take off and land in your own backyard (or on your roof). Whether that ever happens depends a lot on the regulations governments put in to control VTOL aircraft. And as A3 freely admit, the regulatory aspects are “definitely something difficult to overcome.” Despite this, A3 maintain they will have the pilotless Vahana ready in four years. It’s an all-electric, single passenger aircraft with eight rotors. It also has lidar, radar and cameras, the same technology currently being deployed on self-driving cars. Operating altitude will be around 300m and its range will be, according to A3, about the diameter of a city. Instead of summoning a taxi (or Uber), you’ll call for one of these. It will already have its destination programmed in and once you’re on board, it will take you straight there. 16  Silicon Chip Uber’s plan Uber’s 98-page “white paper” follows on from their redefining taxi services around the world – not to mention their fleet of selfdriving cars currently being trialled in Pittsburgh, PA. Their vision takes this one The Terrafugia “Transition”. With prototypes already flying, the company claims an on-sale date around 2019. It has an 800km range and 320km/h top speed. Estimated cost will be around $US120,000. They also claim autonomous flying capability. siliconchip.com.au It’s claimed the Volocopter is much simpler that flying a helicopter – there’s no cyclic or collective, etc – just a simple joystick to go up, down, left, right, forward and backwards. And triple redundant computers even take over some of that for you! Uber’s “Elevate” concept is to have a fleet of autonomous VTOL “taxis” which will whisk you across town much faster than their Uber cars, at a not-toodissimilar cost. Destinations would be pre-programmed – you just get in and go! While the first stage is to operate from several nearby bases, before too long it could be door-to-door.        Graphic: Uber step further with a network, called “Elevate”, of fully autonomous, ondemand electric aircraft that will take of and land vertically, thus requiring no highways. Uber’s concept is that within a decade, the Elevate network can have you across a city in a fraction of the time required for a highway-based trip, Uber or not! It doesn’t plan on making this dream a reality in itself but bring together governments and private individuals who can solve the myriad of problems that will undoubtedly have to be dealt with before it can progress. Terrafugia’s Transition Terrafugia’s mission is to create practical flying cars that enable a new dimension of personal freedom. Terrafugia (www.terrafugia.com) (ter-raFOO-gee-ah) is derived from the Latin for “Escape the Earth”.Their motto is We’re Driven to Fly. The company was founded by five MIT graduates in 2006. Today, their “Transition” is claimed to be the world’s first practical flying car. Unlike some other soon-to-be-released (?) flying cars, it will incorporate autonomous technology that will make it safer than any other small aircraft in the sky today. Because of the autonomous flight capability, Terrafugia are hoping that the Transition will be approved for flight with only an operator’s certification, as distinct from a full pilot’s licence. This (and a huge number of other questions) are currently under negotiation with US regulators. They are hoping to have the Transition licensed as a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) which allows a lower level of skill than a typical aircraft. Terrafugia has already developed and flown two full-scale prototypes and has received all the legal approvals necessary to bring the Transition to market in the USA. It first flew in 2009 and was demonstrated at the Oshkosh Airventure Show in 2013. Terrafugia are also developing the Terrafugia see their concept TF-X as the future of personal transportation. It will be a four-seat, 200 mph VTOL craft that they claim will make flying easier and safer than ever before. Production is planned for 2023-2027, assuming a number of legal pitfalls can be overcome. siliconchip.com.au February 2017  17 Evolo claim that the Volocopter is much easier and safer to fly than a helicopter – the pilot merely commands direction via a joystick – and with 18 individual motors and rotors, it has significantly higher levels of redundancy built in. Once flown to a position, it will stay there until commanded otherwise. And to land, all the pilot needs to do is hold down a button on the joystick – once near the ground the Volocopter’s guidance system automatically controls the craft until it lands gently. The prototype VC200 was first flown in November 2013. There are several Youtube videos and visualisations showing the craft in action (www. youtube.com/user/volocopter). I-TEC Maverick Paraglider It’s not a toy; it’s not even a commercial model. This is a full-sized, two person (pilot +1) 18-motor/rotor Volocopter, which had its maiden flight on April 6 last year. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OazFiIhwAEs TF-X, a more advanced plug-in hybrid electric flying car with VTOL capabilities and computer-controlled flight. The are hoping to commence production of the TF-X between 2023 and 2027 but there are many regulatory hurdles to be overcome before then. Evolo’s Volocopter The next craft is definitely not a flying car but we list it for its interesting features, including the level of autonomy built in. Germany-based Evolo (www.evolo. com – it’s in German but Google will translate it) claim that their alreadyflying Volocopter is “the dawn of a revolution in urban mobility”. The VC200 Volocopter, seen above, is an 18-motor/rotor design similar to a very-much-oversized drone. The difference is that the Volocopter can take two people aloft, much like a small helicopter. It weighs 450kg with passengers and flies at speeds up to 100km/h. It can also be “folded” for transportation and hangar needs. In Germany, the prototype craft ([VVZ] D-MYVC) is licenced as an ultralight aircraft. OK, so it’s not really a flying car – but it can fly and it can drive on the ground . . . just about any ground! Actually developed by a missionary organisation to allow transportation into areas where they can’t drive, the I-TEC Maverick was conceived as a safe, easy-to-operate air and land craft in an area “beyond roads”. Florida-based I-TEC are not the first to produce a paraglider but they are amongst the first to mount an all-terrain road vehicle underneath! The idea is simple: you drive as far as you can then use the propellor and parasail to push you along . . . and up! The Maverick was said to be popular with off-road enthusiasts, especially at the bargain price (in 2012) of around $US94,000 (www.mavericklsa.com). SC Photo by Tory Townsend - http://itecusa.org/images/IMG_4806.JPG, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52493537 The I-TEC Maverick: a capable off-road buggy that also has a propeller and parasail to soar where obstacles (eg, a deep river!) stop you driving. It is said to be very easy to learn (and a whole lot of fun!). Price (in 2012) was about $US94,000. 18  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au