When are we allowed to fly a car?

Flying cars are the dream of every child and of leading scientists. Although the advancement of technology has helped mankind create more devices for life, but flying cars are not yet present. Is it because of the technical barrier that our dream of flying like a bird in the sky has not come true?

We all have once seen Hollywood fantasy movies like Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Star Wars and Fifth Element. Those are movies made decades ago, talking about the future world of people with "equipped to the teeth" technology devices.

Today we seem to have reached that future world when many technology devices in the film are present in real life. Everyone now has signal transducers in their pockets, helping them instantly connect with anyone in the world. We have created a map of human genes. We can access the infinite knowledge base of mankind with our fingers, and we prepare for the plan to conquer Mars. However, there is still something in the movie that is not present in real life: it is a flying car. Technically, is flying cars difficult to manufacture?

The forgotten history of flying cars

Many generations of engineers have tried to build flying cars.

Ever since writer Jules Verne came up with the idea of ​​flying cars in the Master of the World novel published in 1904, many generations of engineers have tried to build flying cars. In 1940, Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motor Company) predicted that the combination of aircraft and cars would happen at a time when both aircraft and cars were cheap, worked better and were mass use. The combination of the above two means of transport is indispensable. Ford's prediction was proved right. Just a few years later, an airline engineer named Ted Hall released the first fully functional flying car.

The video you saw above about flying cars was filmed 70 years ago. This is an out-of-town car with wings. This model is backed by Convair, a leading aircraft manufacturer. It was flying test 66 times. Just fine tuning a few details can make it big and commercially successful. But in 1947, an accident when landing had lost the backing from the Convair. This project is considered too dangerous and must be stopped. Ted Hall's dream of flying was "like a soap bubble" and placed in the garage.

The flying car model was designed 70 years ago.

Since that time, there have been countless attempts to build flying cars. But no individual can make cars fly beyond the prototype to get into real life. Despite a history of many failures and regressions, generations of engineers today are still fascinated by the idea of ​​making flying cars.

Some companies such as Terrafugia, AeroMobil and Moller International are actively turning this dream into reality. You may have never heard of the names of these companies, but they are studying every day to build prototype cars.

AeroMobil 3.0 flying car model.

Why haven't flying cars been present?

The reason that until now we have not had cars not driven by technology limitations, nor because of expensive costs. The technology of flying cars has been around for a few decades, and companies are still developing it so far. So what is the reason?

People are horrifying drivers. In the United States, car accidents caused 30,000 deaths a year, with an estimated loss of $ 871 billion. In Vietnam, an average of 26 people die every day due to traffic accidents. According to estimates by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the economic loss caused by traffic accidents every year in Vietnam is more than VND 50 trillion.

How do you feel if someone drives a two-ton device flying over your head?

Will buildings survive the aerial collisions of flying cars?

The approval for flying cars to operate in public places will be a death sentence for buildings in the world. Modern buildings are designed to stand up to car collisions, but they are not prepared to deal with aerial collisions. In the air, a collision with another vehicle will cause both vehicles to crash into the ground. Who will want to live in a world where flying metals can fall in the head at any time?

Finally, the reason why we don't have flying cars is not technology or cost. It is because of unreliable people to fly anything.

Unmanned technology

This is an interesting field. We will solve the unreliable human problem to drive a flying car.

Self-driving cars are real. All major companies are currently developing this technology. It will only be a matter of time. Soon we will see self-driving cars everywhere. While self-driving cars are real, its appeal is still not possible with potential successors - self-driving cars.

You may ask: "How smart is the computer to drive a flying car?".

Self-driving cars are real.All major companies are currently developing this technology.

Turns out, unmanned technology built for flying cars is easier than cars that are usually underground. In the air there are no pedestrians, potholes, buildings or obstacles that make the computer "headache". That's why unmanned technology has been developed for aircraft since decades ago, and is now being applied to automated ticketing systems. New advances in sensors, computing, and artificial intelligence have made human pilots nearly unnecessary. Today, on each flight, pilots only drive an average of 3.5 to 7 minutes. There have been many discussions about self-propelled technology that will cause taxi drivers and truck drivers to lose their jobs. Pilots are no exception.

In short, safety is a key issue for flying cars, and unmanned technology will be the key to solving this problem . So, which companies are studying unmanned technology?

Three "musketeers"

A few years ago, three characters in Sillicon Valley became increasingly interested in flying cars. They all started studying unmanned technology. These people all have bulging wallets. They reach out to the world's top engineers and they are people who have a history of turning ideas that cannot become possible. They are Travis Kalanick, Larry Page and Elon Musk - the founders of Uber, Google and Tesla.

Last month, Uber announced a 98-page plan that explains its vision of flying cars. In this plan, Uber refers to the expansion of business with non-shared freight service over the next 10 years.

Travis Kalanick, Larry Page and Elon Musk - the founders of Uber, Google and Tesla.

In addition to Uber, Google's Lary Page is also interested in flying cars. Over the years, he secretly invested more than $ 100 million in two start-up companies, Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk. Zee.Aero is currently testing a car version flying at the Hollister Municipal Airport. People here have repeatedly reported seeing strange vehicles taking off and landing. Kitty Hawk is more secretive, but it is interesting to know that it is being run by Sebastian Thrun, a former self-driving car show manager for Google.

For Elon Musk, he did not fully believe in flying cars, not because it was too difficult to implement, but he thought there were more effective ways to move between cities, such as using the system. Hyperloop high-speed traffic system. However, for long trips, Musk said electric aircraft is the best transport solution. In many interviews, he said his next big idea was an electric supersonic jet. In fact, he had a blueprint. If no company does, Elon Musk may set up a new company to implement the project.

The projects of the above three "musketeers" all have a similar point in the design. These are all electric vehicles, can take off and land vertically.

VTOLs, or Airplanes for people

EHang 184, introduced at CES 2016 is an interesting flying device.

Many people have argued that test-flight cars have been a clumsy and costly combination of an airplane and a car - resulting in a bad flight. That's because aircraft and cars have different uses, merging two vehicles will yield ridiculous results. Ideally, we should buy private aircraft and private cars.

To solve this problem, we must first eliminate the idea that a flying car must be like a car or like an airplane. People tend to impose old ones on new technology. Breakthrough products like flying cars need a new design approach. And VTOLs are that approach.

VTOLs is an acronym for Take Off and Landing vehicles - means Vertical Mount and Landing vehicles. In short, the current technology of manufacturing drones will be applied to future humanity to create flying vehicles. Forget about wings like airplanes and tires like cars, we are talking about flying devices designed like DJI's drone Phantom.

If unmanned technology is the key to making flying cars safe, drone technology will be the key to making flying cars simple and ready for mass production.

Going back to the old design idea, if we put an airplane wing on a car, then in addition to its silly appearance, it's also a series of design mistakes. Mounting an airplane wing will cause cars to take off horizontally, not only dangerous, bulky, but also need many runways. By switching to vertical propulsion design, flying cars can achieve higher altitudes, saving a lot of energy. With a drone design, we can remove excess parts that are bulky like the main wing, tail and lift wings. The result is a simple, safe and mass-produced flight device.

Another important part in this design is the electric motor. In addition to environmental protection benefits, electric motors are also the most reasonable choice for VTOLs. Because it doesn't need a lot of moving parts, the electric motor is easier to make than an internal combustion engine. The electric motor is energy efficient, easy to maintain, rarely stopped suddenly between flights and does not explode when impacted. Electric motors allow to create as many asynchronous propulsion motors. If a thruster is malfunctioning, immediately other engines can adjust to compensate and land safely. Finally, the electric motor runs smoothly. This is a factor to distinguish VTOLs from helicopters. In his project, Uber estimates that the sound emitted during takeoff of VTOLs is only equal to the background sound in the city. When flying, we will almost never hear any sound.

Fly to work every day

Have you ever dreamed that when you have a traffic jam, you press a red button and so your car flies into the air, flying above all other vehicles? Eliminate the traffic jam is the dream and promise of flying cars.

According to Jeff Holden, Uber's Project Manager: "Like skyscrapers that allow cities to effectively use cramped land, aerial urban traffic will help reduce congestion. car on the ground ".

Traffic is really a burden for society. In the United States alone, the cost of transportation each year "consumes" 124 billion USD. One of the biggest causes is the lack of infrastructure. Past highways are not designed to carry the current large traffic. With VTOLs, this problem is no longer worrisome. The introduction of VTOLs will help reduce the need to build more roads, railways, bridges and tunnels. VTOLs bring good news to the environment, as well as help the government save billions of dollars for transport infrastructure.

Eliminate the traffic jam is the dream and promise of flying cars.

Moreover, being unbound with ground infrastructure means saving a lot of time. Trains, buses and cars can only travel from A to B in limited ways and sometimes are ineffective by interruptions in traffic, such as being blocked by accidents or public build process. Flying cars can travel in a straight line, at the shortest distance between the point of departure and the destination. Also, being able to store and land vertically is an advantage over current aircraft because you don't have to depend on airports and runways anymore. Just LESS infrastructure, SAVE a lot of time.

In his project report, Uber compared the distance and travel time of cars and VTOLs. Uber believes that VTOLs will be much cheaper than owning a car. For example, if you drive from San Francisco to San Jose, it takes 2 hours and 12 minutes, when flying with VTOLs takes only 15 minutes and costs 20 USD.

The road ahead is long

Flying cars still have a long way to go into practice. In its project, Uber emphasized the major challenges that need to be overcome. At the beginning, even if flying cars do not need pilots, it also needs the approval of the Civil Aviation Association, which also takes a long time. Moreover, there are still concerns about cost and safety, as well as battery technology that is not really available. In his report, Uber also outlined options to address the above obstacles to be able to apply VTOLs in 10 years.

Even though there is a long way, in the future, people will surely fly freely like birds in the sky!