Woburn Startup Working to Make Flying Cars a Reality

Photo Credit: Terrafugia

Many of us have dreamed of owning a flying car someday. That dream could soon become a reality, according to a Woburn-based startup known as Terrafugia.

"We make flying cars," Terrafugia says. The startup, managed by MIT graduates, has multiple models in which they've been crafting.

A few years back, company CEO Carl Dietrich and his co-workers shocked spectators at a Wisconsin convention with a light, gasoline-powered plane that was shaped like an SUV.

The prototype's wings could fold in and it met legal highway driving requirements.

"Our first product is very much an airplane that can be driven," Dietrich told the Associated Press, "but it's putting our company in position to make a car that can fly."

Terrafugia is hoping to bring its invention full-circle within the next few years. The company says it hopes to provide customers with a version by 2017. It will be priced at $279,000.

"We need a new industry that makes personal aviation safer, as simple as driving your car, and convenient for everyone. We need a practical flying car," Terrafugia says on its website.

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Source: Woburn Startup Working to Make Flying Cars a Reality

Slotcar Mania GAME

Racing August 28, 2015 at 3:55 am

Pit your slotcar skills against the best in Slotcar Mania. switch between lanes in this super high speed racer gaining money and buying power ups like the megablast, flying car and money multipliers. Use AD or cursor keys to steer and X or N to use your powerups.

Source: Slotcar Mania GAME

Daring to dream of a flying car

Posted: August 27, 2015

Walter Bonar wants to build a car that can fly. It's one of the reasons he came to ASU from North Carolina; he believes the school's engineering schools can help him achieve that dream.Photo by: Charlie Leight/ASU News

Editor's note: This story is part of our back-to-school spotlight on notable incoming students. The series will run during the first two weeks of the fall semester. Read our other profiles here.

Walter Bonar's focus hasn't wavered since first grade, when his teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.

"A rocket scientist."

Through years of attending aerospace engineering camps and constructing rockets that fly more than 1,200 feet above the ground, Bonar's dream was never deferred: He was going to be a rocket scientist.

And as someone who grew up in Marvin, North Carolina, he had to give strong consideration to extending his dream through universities in his home state. But when Bonar started comparing schools, he was surprised about what he found at Arizona State University.

"There were more resources available there, especially for undergraduate students," Bonar said via telephone.

It's why the Barrett, The Honors College student will be starting this fall as a freshman studying aerospace engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, rather than staying at home in the Tar Heel State.

"There are bound to be one or two people who are thinking about the same things that I am and we can come together and try to make something better, something that's never been done before," Bonar said.

Like, say, building a flying car.

It's not exactly constructing a rocket set for a path to Mars, but Bonar says as he has done more research, he has become intrigued by subspace aerospace engineering.

"I just really want to explore what's up there," he said. "The physics required for that is pretty intense; when you have to include air resistance into physics equations, it's a bear."

He has been thinking about more than just equation. Bonar can talk about the excitement of flying cars, and the issues an armada of these things would create.

"If there are millions of flying cars, we're going to have to think of the ways to reduce the noise," he said.

Perhaps some time in the next four years, Bonar and his ASU colleagues will be worrying about these problems as they craft a car that could fly us to North Carolina and back. But in the meantime he'll be thinking about other issues, like trying to find time to play his French horn while studying to be an engineer and hoping his family is doing OK across the nation.

It's a common concern for far-flung students, but Bonar has extra reason to worry: His dad is recovering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. During the treatment Bonar donated his own stem cells to his father to help rebuild his immune system. The treatment has been working. Bonar's dad is scheduled to go back to work later this month or next.

"This is really awesome that I was able to do this for my dad," he said.

So, no doubt, Bonar's mind will be back in North Carolina, missing family, friends and familiarity. But there's one thing this future rocket scientist won't be missing: the Southeastern climate.

"No humidity," Bonar said of Tempe. "That's a perk."

Source: Daring to dream of a flying car

Woburn Startup Working to Make Flying Cars a Reality

Photo Credit: Terrafugia

Many of us have dreamed of owning a flying car someday. That dream could soon become a reality, according to a Woburn-based startup known as Terrafugia.

"We make flying cars," Terrafugia says. The startup, managed by MIT graduates, has multiple models in which they've been crafting.

A few years back, company CEO Carl Dietrich and his co-workers shocked spectators at a Wisconsin convention with a light, gasoline-powered plane that was shaped like an SUV.

The prototype's wings could fold in and it met legal highway driving requirements.

"Our first product is very much an airplane that can be driven," Dietrich told the Associated Press, "but it's putting our company in position to make a car that can fly."

Terrafugia is hoping to bring its invention full-circle within the next few years. The company says it hopes to provide customers with a version by 2017. It will be priced at $279,000.

"We need a new industry that makes personal aviation safer, as simple as driving your car, and convenient for everyone. We need a practical flying car," Terrafugia says on its website.

Across Massachusetts

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Source: Woburn Startup Working to Make Flying Cars a Reality

The Transforming Vertical-Takeoff Plane That's Better Than a Flying Car

​While the flying car may never get off the ground, XTI Aircraft is hoping to bridge the gap with its new take on a light jet that will transport you door-to-door.

The TriFan 600 is the brainchild of David Brody, who in 2012 began dreaming of true long-distance point-to-point air travel. He has since gathered an elite team of aviation experts—including Jeff Pino, former president of Sikorsky, and Charlie Johnson, former president of Cessna—to plan the first commercially certified, high-speed, long-range airplane capable of vertical takeoff and landing.

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The TriFan 600 uses three ducted fans powered by two gas-turbine engines. Once the craft is airborne, the two wing-mounted fans rotate to provide forward thrust. (The center fan, only used for vertical lift, is covered and not used during high-speed flight.) The two jet engines will reach a combined 2,600 horsepower, XTI claims. All that power will lift six occupants straight up into the air and then blast them forward at a top speed of 400 mph and an altitude of 30,000 feet.

This isn't Brody's first attempt at bringing a vertical flight aircraft to the market. Ten years ago he started AVX Aircraft with the intention of building the next-generation equipment for the United States Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program seeking a replacement for the aging Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk. The AVX proposal to the Army included a vertical lift aircraft similar to the TriFan 600. However, Brody's first concept created vertical lift through the use of traditional coaxial rotor, while forward thrust was to have come from a dual ducted fan facing to the rear of the aircraft.

Brody's didn't win the Army contract, as the Pentagon chose bigger players: Bell Helicopter with their V-280 tilt rotor that shared technology from the V-22 Osprey and Sikorsky-Boeing offering a variation of their revolutionary X-2. Undaunted, Brody took the AVX Aircraft vertical lift concept a step farther when he started XTI Aircraft to bring an executive variation to the civilian commercial market. You can see that many design features from the original AVX concept (including a patent Brody won for AVX Aircraft) made their way into the newly announced TriFan 600.

Brody has been trying to build a game-changing vertical lift aircraft for over 10 years, but has yet to build a single prototype. To show the world that the TriFan isn't vaporware and to get the project airborne, his team is turning to equity crowdfunding. Before Regulation A+ under the Jump Start Our Business Act of 2012, only accredited investors with high net worth could buy in at an early stage of privately held companies. Now, all supporters have the opportunity to be potential stockholders.

If you think you might want to invest, or simply feed your curiosity, head over to StartEngine and check out the crowdfunding campaign.

Source: The Transforming Vertical-Takeoff Plane That's Better Than a Flying Car

IndyCar Driver In Coma After He's Hit By Flying Car Part

Driver Justin Wilson is in a coma after he was hit by a large piece of another car during Sunday's IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway. He was immediately airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

The crash occurred when debris broke off racer Sage Karam's car, with his vehicle spinning into a wall. Wilson was struck in the head by a nose cone after which his car veered left and went directly into an interior wall.

While Karam was conscious and managed to get out of his car with some help from the safety team, Wilson required additional medical attention.

Justin Wilson was transported to the hospital for a head injury. More info will be communicated when available. #INDYCAR #ABCSupply500

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 23, 2015

Sage Karam is being transported via ground for further evaluation of a right foot injury. #INDYCAR #ABCSupply500

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 23, 2015

Recommended: Horror Comeback: Watch Casey Stoner's Dramatic Motorcycle Crash

The race resumed after the scary accident with seven laps remaining. Ryan Hunter-Reay won but he was not sprayed with the traditional confetti out of respect for his teammate Wislon.

"It's just a tough one right now," said Michael Andretti, car owner for Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Justin right now. We're going to see. Hopefully, he's OK."

Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart lent his plane to help get Wilson's younger brother, Stefan, to get to Pennsylvania from Indianapolis. Arrangements were made by IndyCar to get the injured driver's wife, Julia, from their home in Colorado.

Praying for my bro right now. Trying to get myself and Julia, JWs wife to Pocono. Thank you for prayers and thoughts at this very hard time.

— Stefan Wilson (@stef_wilson) August 23, 2015

I have no update on his condition, he's been moved to the local hospital, and I'm trying to get there to be with him. Please don't speculate

— Stefan Wilson (@stef_wilson) August 23, 2015

As per the last update by IndyCar, Wilson is still in critical condition:

Medical update on @justin_wilson #INDYCAR #PrayersForJustin pic.twitter.com/jy98qhh1k6

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 24, 2015

Stay connected to the website for more updates.

Source: IndyCar Driver In Coma After He's Hit By Flying Car Part

Flying Horse 082315 Future

SUPER SPEEDY

"Whoa! This thing's fast!" I hollered in my new car. In the future, I'l have six super speedy cars. I will have a Porsche 911 and it will be midnight black and extremely fast!

Claire Johnson

Grade 5, Prairieland Elementary

INVENTIONS

I think the future will be cool. They probably will make the iPhone 12 when I'm 21. I'm an inventor, too, so I think I will invent a lot of things.

Kyler Zook

Grade 3, Tri-Valley Elementary

IMMORTAL

In the future, I want to know if some people will live forever. In the future, I would bring people back who died. If I could, I would make people never get hurt. This is why I would love the future.

Sierra McCombs

Grade 5, Irving Elementary

A DIFFERENT FUTURE

In the future, there will be robots that do your homework and take care of your kids. There will be women's football and Christmas for two days.

Amiya Slater

Grade 2, Stevenson Elementary

ALIENS RULE

What do you think the future will be like? I think the future will have aliens ruling the Earth. I would not like to be in the future!

Lillian Dobson

Grade 2, Chenoa Elementary

MYSTERIOUS

I am really cautious about the future. It could be good or bad. It could be surprising or irritating. Sometimes it is really mysterious. Sometimes, I can read the future.

Srujan Cheedhalla

Grade 2, Colene Hoose Elementary

FLYING PIGS?

I think the future will have lots of robots. I wonder if it will have flying pigs? I think the robots will have a big, fat belly. I hope they will do jobs.

Luke Stephens

Grade 2, Benjamin Elementary

NOT SURE

I really don't know what the future will be like, but I imagine weird, floating cars, lots of water and weird buildings. The future may not be like this, but the future may look like this, too!

Kylie Klepec

Grade 5, Holy Trinity 

GLASS SCHOOLS

In the future, I think buildings will be a lot taller. People will kind of sound like a robot and might have metal pieces on them. Schools will be glass or metal, too.

Jaila Grant 

Grade 3, Sheridan Elementary

THE NEAR FUTURE

When it's the future, I'm going to play my XBox for one hour and build with Legos. 

Kaden Lane

Grade 3, MECA Christian Academy

MY BEST INVENTION

I would invent a watch that could turn into shoes that can fly. I would make it do circles and zigzags. It would also fly by itself. I would name it the Super Rocket Machine.

Molly Erwin

Grade 2, Jefferson Park

BACK TO THE PAST

I think there will be flying cars. Everybody will live in castles. Everyone will travel in bubbles if they don't want to be in a flying car. There will be portals to come to the past.

Malena Kirgan

Grade 4, New Holland-Middletown 

LEARNING LOTS

In the future, I will be 9 years old and in fourth grade. In the future, I will know cursive and multiplication. In my future, I will be an adult and I will have a husband and children.

Lalah Creer

Grade 2, Oakdale Elementary

CITY HALL

In the future, I will go to college and graduate college and marry. When I marry, I will go to city hall. 

Tomoya Hartry

Grade 1, Oakland Elementary

SMARTER PEOPLE

In the future, I think that there could be a lot of cool cars, new planes and new discoveries. There could be smarter people.

Nick Jenkins 

Grade 4, Calvary Christian Academy

FLYING

In the future, I'm going to make flying cars. Also, I'm going to make flying houses and that's my future.

Cayden Moore

Grade 3, Sheridan Elementary

FUTURE TEACHER

In my future, I'm a first-grade teacher. I'm going to teach my first grade to multiply by five and under. They'll even learn to divide, too.

Zalia Donalson

Grade 3, Cedar Ridge Elementary

COOL CARS

I wonder if in the future, cars could fly or when you want to lock it, just say, "lock." Or you could push a button and your car could float in water. Maybe it could turn invisible.

Marley Schrof

Grade 3, Prairieland Elementary

FIRST LADY

In the future, I am going to be the president's wife! And I'm going to invent robots and rocket shoes!

Chloe Himmell

Grade 2, Tri-Valley Elementary

FUTURE MOM

In the future, I want to be a mom. I want to be a teacher and babysit boys and girls. I want to be a doctor. I want to be a dentist.

Alexis Summers

Grade 2, Chenoa Elementary

BIGGER GLOVES

I think the future would have coats that are even fluffier. Also, gloves would come in bigger sizes. My bed would make itself. A robot would get me dressed.

Colton Wilkes

Grade 2, Colene Hoose Elementary

GETTING OLDER

In the future, I will get older. I will go to college. I will have a job, get married and other things. I will give birth to my baby. Then years go by and I will be a grandma.

Alyssa Hasty

Grade 2, Benjamin Elementary

FUTURE PARTY

In the future, I hope I get a trip to Mexico with my mom. I hope my birthday is a Pokemon party. I hope my mom teaches me how to build a snowman.

Sean Mala

Grade 1, Holy Trinity

A FUTURE BOOK

I think my future is not going to college and I might live with my mom and dad. I might get married. I might write a book on Abraham Lincoln, my favorite president.

Kyrie Cope

Grade 3, Sheridan Elementary

CARING FOR BABIES

I want to be a baby doctor because babies are cute!

Nashyla McQuirter

Grade 3, MECA Christian Academy

NEAT WATCH

If I could invent something, it would be a watch that you can press a button and it can turn into a horse and a phone. 

Callie Whitcomb

Grade 2, Jefferson Park

ROCK STAR

I'll be famous in the future. I will be a rock star and make a lot of money. I'll meet One Direction. That's what I'll be in the future.

Donovan Parrish

Grade 4, New Holland-Middletown Elementary

SAVING UP

In the future, Jaren, my brother, and I are going to save up our money and buy a mansion. Then, we're going to buy a lot of stuff. There are going to be lots of playgrounds. Will you want to come in?

Kamren Herald

Grade 2, Oakdale Elementary

WONDERING

I always wonder what is going to happen in the future, like, what I'm going to be when I grow up. Also, where I'm going to live. I want a dog in the future. I have a feeling I will like the future!

Brielle Tripke

Grade 4, Calvary Christian Academy

FUTURE SCHOOLS

I wonder how schools will change in the future. Maybe there will be no more books and just computers. Maybe my teacher will be a robot!

Juliana Turner

Grade 4, Prairieland Elementary

LATER ON

Everyone has a future. A future is something that everyone has. The future is what happens to you later on in your life. If you work hard, you'll have a good future.

Aswini Kake

Grade 2, Colene Hoose Elementary

WOODY AND BUZZ

In the future, I will go to Disney World. I think Disney World would be fun. I would see Woody and Buzz.

Koby Brown

Grade 1, Holy Trinity

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

I wonder what the future will be like. Will I still be alive? I don't know, but I still wonder about the future.

Tamzaniya Simmons

Grade 3, Sheridan Elementary

TELEPORT TO TARGET

I am going to invent a machine that cleans my room. I am going to invent a car that can go underwater. And also a teleport pad that leads me to Target.

Hayden Tipler

Grade 2, Jefferson Park

SECRET BASE

In the future, I will invent a time machine. It will be put in my secret base. I will make potions. I will make a love potion, beauty potion and an animal potion.

Lili Neal

Grade 2, Oakdale Elementary

Source: Flying Horse 082315 Future

Smart House: Five Ideas to Raise Your Home’s I.Q.

Remember the first time you met that "out of this world" family, the Jetsons? Fast forward to today, and it suddenly isn't all that far-fetched. While we may not have flying cars or robot maids just yet, the idea of a "smart home" is real.

These five upgrades can go a long way to boost the intelligence of your house.

High-Tech Hub

The kitchen is the hub of the home and it sees much more than just meal prep and dinner time. From homework to casual conversation, your family expects more from this already hard-working space. In fact, the kitchen is the number one room where homeowners would like to incorporate technology, according to a recent research study by Moen.

• One-third of homeowners charge devices in the kitchen, according to the Moen study. You can make this task simpler and cord-free with new countertops, such as the Corian line from DuPont, which features wireless chargers seamlessly embedded into its surface. Or install a docking and charging station with a built-in USB power strip to maximize the number of devices you can charge at once.

• At the top of consumers' kitchen tech wish list is a hands-free faucet, for good reason. For the convenience of a faucet that senses what you're trying to accomplish, and with a wave of your hand immediately responds to your needs, check out the slim and sleek new STō pulldown kitchen faucet from Moen with MotionSense. In addition to the traditional handle, you can activate the faucet by waving your hand over it to turn it on and off, or by placing your hands or an object under its spout. For more information, visit moen.com/motionsense.

Tech-Savvy Details

• Worried about what your appliances are up to when you're gone? Whirlpool Smart Appliances with 6th Sense Live technology now allows consumers to access appliances remotely. You can manage refrigerator temperature or lock the dishwasher control console and see when the washer cycle is complete, all from a connected application on a smart device.

• Long gone are the days of shuttling a portable stereo from room to room. A smart system of HiFi wireless speakers and audio components can unite a digital music collection. With a Sonos speaker, for example, you can control what's streaming from any device, and the music can be heard in any room.

• You can transform the mood of a room at the touch of a button with new smart LED lightbulbs that allow you to change the color or brightness any time, even from your smartphone. Studies show that light can affect mood, productivity and eyestrain. By optimizing lighting for each activity, you can live better and enjoy your home more.

Being among the first to embrace new technologies in your home can make it the smartest in the neighborhood.

Source: Smart House: Five Ideas to Raise Your Home's I.Q.

Popsmacked!: Back to the Future at 30 more about past than future

"The Honeymooners?" Ronald Reagan? Fax machines?

Watching the 1985 blockbuster "Back To The Future" in 2015 is like being smacked in the face with a triple-pronged dose of nostalgia.

On one hand, Michael J Fox's intrepid time traveller leaps back to 1955, when rock music was in its infancy, Reagan was a movie star and full service gas stations were the norm.

The Golden Age.

On the other hand, with his feathered hair, Mom jeans and Sony Walkman, he's a walking advertisement for what, 30 years later, has become a nostalgic focal point of its own.

Nineteen eighty five personified.

When he catapults 30 years into the future in "Back To The Future Part II" — into the flying car, hoverboarding, self-tying shoelace world of 2015 — it's the same retro-thrill we get from the 1939 World's Fair, Expo 67 and Disney's Tomorrowland: past representations of a future that, having come and gone, seem charmingly naïve in their predictions.

Twenty-fifteen, of course, is the temporal nexus, the magical flashpoint where past, present and future collide in a phantasmagoric display of retro firepower.

"We did a lot of research," Bob Gale, who wrote 1985's top grossing movie and its two sequels, told Newsweek. "We didn't want it to look completely silly, at least not to audiences of the day.

"(I'm) totally jazzed that kids that saw that movie back in the day are now adults trying to invent hoverboards (skateboards that float above ground) because they saw it in our movie."

The Back to the Future trilogy was, in the end, nothing short of revolutionary, blending scientific speculation with an engaging story about a teenager who bounces between past and future realities with such breezy intensity it made time travel a "thing" in mainstream Hollywood films.

Every post-1985 film dipping into the same pool — from "Austin Powers" to "Looper," "Groundhog Day" to "Hot Tub Time Machine" — owes a debt to the series that made a point of answering the universal question: what would happen if you leapfrogged 30 years into the past and came face to face with your hot-to-trot teenage mom?

But beneath the exhilaration of a studio franchise that paired intelligence with effects, science with slapstick, there's a bittersweet tug.

Everyone who enjoyed the films during the height of the Reagan/Rambo era knew this day would come, when the film's present would become our own past, its future our present, its past something akin to, well, ancient history.

It raises intriguing questions about our relationship with nostalgia: how we define it, how it changes over time, when it stops being relevant.

Woody Allen tackled this, comedically, in 2011's "Midnight In Paris," in which a disgruntled writer wishes himself back to the Golden Age — 1920s Paris — only to find the inhabitants of his fantasy world equally dissatisfied, wishing themselves back in time to La Belle Epoque.

Why? Because there is no Golden Age. People are hard-wired to yearn, through some half-baked romantic haze, for a time period not their own.

"Back to the Future" is cinematic proof, both satirical survey and the living embodiment, with its 1985 perspective, of the time travel conceits it works for dramatic effect.

"Tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?" 1955 Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) asks 1985 Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox).

"Ronald Reagan," he announces as Doc's jaw drops.

"Ronald Reagan? The actor?"

Doc chuckles in disbelief: "Then who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?"

The joke worked because, in 1985, politics and entertainment operated in different spheres of reality.

The idea of a Hollywood actor attaining the nation's top political office still seemed novel, unprecedented.

Thirty years later, with everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Donald Trump throwing their hat in the ring, it's old news.

Nor has the series' depiction of the future held up, scientifically speaking.

Fax machines in place of the Internet? Flying cars? Broadsheet newspapers as the primary means of mass communication?

It is to laugh.

And where's the tech revolution begat by smartphones?

"We didn't figure that one out at all," Gale admitted to NBC News. "This is a technology that nobody saw coming in 1989, and it's totally ubiquitous now and has totally changed how people live."

"From where we were sitting in 1989, it just seemed like there were going to be more and more faxes."

On a laudatory note, the series correctly predicted flat screen TVs, Skype, Google Glass and, with its holographic ad for Jaws 19, the sequel culture in which we now exist.

But mostly, it's the year 2015 viewed through the lens of 1985, which is a kind of nostalgia all its own.

"You gonna order something, kid?" a '50s waiter asks 1985 Marty.

"Ah, yeah," he responds. "Give me a Tab."

"Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something."

"Right. Give me a Pepsi Free."

"You want a Pepsi, pal, you're gonna pay for it!"

Since both Pepsi Free and Tab have virtually disappeared off the pop culture radar, this pun-filled exchange is as relevant as the old-fashioned dial phone in Doc Brown's lab.

So what, you may wonder, would a modern update look like, with the '80s as the past, 2015 as the present and 2045 as the future?

The first two are obvious: the '80s are exactly as represented in the film, a world of primitive computers, Huey Lewis songs, VHS machines and Jane Fonda aerobics classes.

The present would be our present, with smartphones and social media taking the place of flying cars, hoverboards and self-drying jackets.

But the future? Again, it's that conundrum of trying to predict things that may or may not happen a lifetime from now.

"There's of course the big question of whether or not some religious fanatics will get their hands on a nuclear bomb and do some serious damage," Gale told Newsweek.

"And undoubtedly, there will be something that happens in the next 30 years that will be one of those things nobody saw coming. And yet, when it happens, everybody will say 'Oh yeah, how come nobody thought of that before?"'

Scanning websites devoted to scientific prognostication, the popular image is of humans interfaced with computers on a biological level, along with super hurricanes, animal extinctions and the rollout of driverless cars now in the early testing phase.

Since we still haven't managed to predict the weather more than five minutes in advance, I will gleefully add the flying cars, hoverboards and self-drying clothing touted so confidently in Back to the Future Part II.

I'm not worried. By the time 2045 rolls around, they will either be reality, or fodder for more high-minded missives like this one.

The Back To The Future trilogy will return to theatres in October. Available now on Rogers On Demand.

Source: Popsmacked!: Back to the Future at 30 more about past than future

ASI Safety Alert

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While midair collisions remain rare, recent incidents including the fatal crash involving a Cessna 172 and a Sabreliner over Southern California prompted a fresh call for vigilance from the Air Safety Institute.

Source: ASI Safety Alert

Transport's innovation problem: why haven’t flying cars taken off?

Flying cars in The Jetsons and Back to the Future, or Star Trek's spaceships and teleportation, may have captured the imagination decades ago, but most current methods of transport have been around a long time. Railways were being rolled out rapidly from the 1830s, while the commercial breakthroughs in petrol and diesel engines date to 1876 and 1892 respectively. Even the jet engine that made mass aviation possible can be traced back to Frank Whittle's first patent in 1932.

Despite decades of futuristic predictions, modern transport wouldn't look all that different to someone from the 1950s – certainly not compared to communications or entertainment. So why has there been so little recent innovation in transport? And will the latest batch of proposed driverless cars, levitating trains and electric aircraft actually make a serious breakthrough?

In part, there hasn't been a revolution because existing technologies have been able to evolve. Engines have become more efficient, fuel is higher quality, we have lighter materials, more aerodynamic designs and better brakes that mean vehicles can operate safely closer together. However, eventually there will be a limit to these evolutions.

We're still waiting for the future of the 50s. James Vaughan, CC BY-NC-SA

In any event, transport is not just about technology. It is also about people – and people don't always like change. We may be locked in to current technology, partly due to habit but also due to economics.

We have an extensive transport refuelling system based on petrol and diesel. To convert to electricity or, more fancifully, to hydrogen, will involve substantial re-tooling that will be difficult to finance. In the UK, drivers are used to manual transmissions and may be reluctant to learn how to use more automated systems, just as we would be reluctant to retrain to use a different keyboard even if it were more efficient. We are stuck with what we have – the economics of QWERTY.

Human factors may lead to unintended consequences – one of the ironies of automation is that it can lead to less attention to related tasks. For example adaptive cruise control can make car drivers less aware of hazards.

Even with full automation, when we still have trouble making all trains driverless, one might suggest driverless cars are a flight of fancy. Innovative aeroplane designs, such as the blended wing, are stymied by the human requirements for a window seat (NASA has suggested windows could be replaced with real-time video).

The wing blends into the main body of the aircraft – but where are the windows? NASA / Boeing

Fancy new inventions have to be accompanied by a business model and the right infrastructure, or else they'll just languish as prototypes like the pneumatic transit system demonstrated in New York City in the early 1870s and a forerunner to Elon Musk's proposed Hyperloop. Take flying cars. Even supposing the technology works, where would they land?

Such a system would only succeed if infrastructure – air traffic control, landing space and so on – was set aside. While flying cars could technically operate from airport to airport, what's the point? Until there are sufficient numbers to set aside pieces of land or roads for takeoff we won't achieve any of the benefits. And there won't be sufficient demand until this land is set aside. Catch 22.

When looking at how technology interacts with wider society it's helpful to think in terms of three different levels: niches, regimes and landscapes.

In transport, there are plenty of niche innovations – battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells, car clubs – but few become mainstream. An exception might be hybrid electric vehicles such the Toyota Prius, but even here the underlying technology may be traced back to a patent registered in 1898 (by Ferdinand Porsche, no less).

The first Porsche – and the first hybrid. wiki

The problem isn't coming up with new ideas – it's changing the bigger picture. At regime level, new transport technologies have faced resistance from vested interests such as oil producers and car makers. And the wider landscape has not always favoured major innovations – especially low oil prices.

With lots of different individual suppliers, transport is also vulnerable to tragedy of the commons-type outcomes and clashes between rival designs and brands. Navigation technologies can only be sold commercially if they benefit the individual consumer. However, if we all have access to such technologies, we can be collectively worse off due to congestion – for the greater good, it would be beneficial if sometimes our SatNav sends us on a longer route, but who is knowingly going to buy something like that?

Electric battery technology might have more rapid adoption if the technology was standardised, permitting automated battery swaps. But standardised to whose technology? Magnetic levitation train adoption is limited by the fact they can't run on traditional rail lines and have only limited overlap with other maglevs.

In short, despite the fuss over disruptive technologies such as Uber, it is unlikely that transport will have a technology paradigm shift until there is a major landscape change. Of course, with volatile oil prices, limited reserves and sensitive geopolitics, such a change could be just round the corner. But for the moment the technology push does not seem to be complemented by a societal pull – people might like to watch sci-fi, but they aren't yet ready to live it.

John Preston is Head of the Transportation Research Group at University of Southampton and Ben Waterson is Lecturer in Transportation at University of Southampton

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Source: Transport's innovation problem: why haven't flying cars taken off?

Watch Video: The flying car from AeroMobil

As a car, it fits into any standard parking space, consumes regular gasoline. It can be used in road traffic just like any other car. As a plane, it can land at any airport in the world and take off using grass strip or paved surface of few hundred meters long.

As a car, it can attain top speed of 160 km/h. As an airplane, it can get at a speed of 200 km/h. In one full tank, you can travel a distance of 875 kms on road and 700 kms by flying.   

Watch Video here:

Courtsey: Aeromobil official website (www.aeromobil.com)

Latest News  from Business News Desk

Source: Watch Video: The flying car from AeroMobil

Transport’s innovation problem: why haven’t flying cars taken off?

Flying cars in The Jetsons and Back to the Future, or Star Trek's spaceships and teleportation, may have captured the imagination decades ago, but most current methods of transport have been around a long time. Railways were being rolled out rapidly from the 1830s, while the commercial breakthroughs in petrol and diesel engines date to 1876 and 1892 respectively. Even the jet engine that made mass aviation possible can be traced back to Frank Whittle's first patent in 1932.

Despite decades of futuristic predictions, modern transport wouldn't look all that different to someone from the 1950s – certainly not compared to communications or entertainment. So why has there been so little recent innovation in transport? And will the latest batch of proposed driverless cars, levitating trains and electric aircraft actually make a serious breakthrough?

In part, there hasn't been a revolution because existing technologies have been able to evolve. Engines have become more efficient, fuel is higher quality, we have lighter materials, more aerodynamic designs and better brakes that mean vehicles can operate safely closer together. However, eventually there will be a limit to these evolutions.

We're still waiting for the future of the 50s. James Vaughan, CC BY-NC-SA

In any event, transport is not just about technology. It is also about people – and people don't always like change. We may be locked in to current technology, partly due to habit but also due to economics.

We have an extensive transport refuelling system based on petrol and diesel. To convert to electricity or, more fancifully, to hydrogen, will involve substantial re-tooling that will be difficult to finance. In the UK, drivers are used to manual transmissions and may be reluctant to learn how to use more automated systems, just as we would be reluctant to retrain to use a different keyboard even if it were more efficient. We are stuck with what we have – the economics of QWERTY.

Human factors may lead to unintended consequences – one of the ironies of automation is that it can lead to less attention to related tasks. For example adaptive cruise control can make car drivers less aware of hazards.

Even with full automation, when we still have trouble making all trains driverless, one might suggest driverless cars are a flight of fancy. Innovative aeroplane designs, such as the blended wing, are stymied by the human requirements for a window seat (NASA has suggested windows could be replaced with real-time video).

The wing blends into the main body of the aircraft – but where are the windows? NASA / Boeing

Fancy new inventions have to be accompanied by a business model and the right infrastructure, or else they'll just languish as prototypes like the pneumatic transit system demonstrated in New York City in the early 1870s and a forerunner to Elon Musk's proposed Hyperloop. Take flying cars. Even supposing the technology works, where would they land?

Such a system would only succeed if infrastructure – air traffic control, landing space and so on – was set aside. While flying cars could technically operate from airport to airport, what's the point? Until there are sufficient numbers to set aside pieces of land or roads for takeoff we won't achieve any of the benefits. And there won't be sufficient demand until this land is set aside. Catch 22.

When looking at how technology interacts with wider society it's helpful to think in terms of three different levels: niches, regimes and landscapes.

In transport, there are plenty of niche innovations – battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells, car clubs – but few become mainstream. An exception might be hybrid electric vehicles such the Toyota Prius, but even here the underlying technology may be traced back to a patent registered in 1898 (by Ferdinand Porsche, no less).

The first Porsche – and the first hybrid. wiki

The problem isn't coming up with new ideas – it's changing the bigger picture. At regime level, new transport technologies have faced resistance from vested interests such as oil producers and car makers. And the wider landscape has not always favoured major innovations – especially low oil prices.

With lots of different individual suppliers, transport is also vulnerable to tragedy of the commons-type outcomes and clashes between rival designs and brands. Navigation technologies can only be sold commercially if they benefit the individual consumer. However, if we all have access to such technologies, we can be collectively worse off due to congestion – for the greater good, it would be beneficial if sometimes our SatNav sends us on a longer route, but who is knowingly going to buy something like that?

Electric battery technology might have more rapid adoption if the technology was standardised, permitting automated battery swaps. But standardised to whose technology? Magnetic levitation train adoption is limited by the fact they can't run on traditional rail lines and have only limited overlap with other maglevs.

In short, despite the fuss over disruptive technologies such as Uber, it is unlikely that transport will have a technology paradigm shift until there is a major landscape change. Of course, with volatile oil prices, limited reserves and sensitive geopolitics, such a change could be just round the corner. But for the moment the technology push does not seem to be complemented by a societal pull – people might like to watch sci-fi, but they aren't yet ready to live it.

Source: Transport's innovation problem: why haven't flying cars taken off?

Flying Cars On the Horizon Now Fact Not Fiction

With flying cars really coming true in contemporary life, Freddie and Sebbie creates an auto accessory they assert to be 100% future-proof.

(Newswire.net -- August 11, 2015) Las Vegas, LAS VEGAS -- Since the dawn of science fiction, the image of the future has been centered around 3 things: hover boards, flying cars and self-lacing sneakers. The Marty McFly self-lacing Nike trainers will be released later on this year, only two scientific breakthroughs remain until we can officially declare that we are in the future, however they may well be coming earlier than formerly believed.

Fortune Magazine launched a story at the end of July this year explaining the realities of flying cars and hover-boards, and surprisingly enough, we already have the technology to make them happen. "There are really lots of car variants out there that will get you from point A to point B without touching the ground", Robert Hackett of Fortune states: "But the issue is, they function only on an extremely small scale. High costs, policies, and physics have actually prevented anyone from making more than a few vehicles, or going very far on them."

With a whole new dimension added to travel, however, comes a whole new dimension for travel devices. Nevada-based accessory business Freddie and Sebbie asserts to have developed a completely future-proof range of accessories, for both today and tomorrow. Freddie and Sebbie official spokesman Neil Speight, said in a recent press meeting: "Our luxury automobile organizer for instance, has not only been developed to hold items of any si ze, ranging from small chocolate bars all the way up to 11 inch tablets, but also to hold them safely and securely, thanks to the item's special elastic pockets."

While offering all passengers comfort, even on the bumpiest of roads, it has actually been produced to be as light-weight and super-strong as possible, weighing in at a measly 11 ounces, and made from the highest quality products available on the market. According to the company spokesman, it's been produced with maximum use in mind, by using its secure wraparound system that stays securely in place, either facing forward for the driver, or backwards for the car passengers. He added: "Whether it's a flying car, or a driving car, things are bound to slide around and fall to the floor, but with this organization system in place, the car of today can be as sleek and neat as the car of tomorrow."

Asked if the Freddie and Sebbie vehicle organizer could really be put up to test, primary spokesperson Neil Speight res ponded: "Put to the test? Of course it can! Freddie and Sebbie is built on value and quality. Even if cars of the future don't arrive for another 100 years, you can be ensured that this vehicle organizer will stand the test of time. And what if it doesn't? Well, simply get it replaced with the free no-quibble life-time Freddie and Sebbie guarantee, which is bundled with each among our products!" Freddie and Sebbie's luxury vehicle organizer is available to purchase solely from their Amazon storefront, with more information about this and the rest of their future-proof range of accessories to be found on their site, freddieandsebbie.com.

The full specifications for their luxury car orgainzer can be seen here: http://www.amazon.com/Car-Organizer-Freddie-Sebbie-Accessories/dp/B00OQPRPK8/

------------

Since the dawn of science fiction, the image of the future has been centered around 3 things: hover boards, flying cars and self-lacing sneakers. The Marty McFly self-lacing Nike trainers will be released later on this year, only two scientific breakthroughs remain until we can officially declare that we are in the future, however they may well be coming earlier than formerly believed.

Fortune Magazine launched a story at the end of July this year explaining the realities of flying cars and hover-boards, and surprisingly enough, we already have the technology to make them happen. "There are really lots of car variants out there that will get you from point A to point B without touching the ground", Robert Hackett of Fortune states: "But the issue is, they function only on an extremely small scale. High costs, policies, and physics have actually prevented anyone from making more than a few vehicles, or going very far on them."

With a whole new dimension added to travel, however, comes a whole new dimension for travel devices. Nevada-based accessory business Freddie and Sebbie asserts to have developed a completely future-proof range of accessories, for both today and tomorrow. Freddie and Sebbie official spokesman Neil Speight, said in a recent press meeting: "Our luxury automobile organizer for instance, has not only been developed to hold items of any size, ranging from small chocolate bars all the way up to 11 inch tablets, but also to hold them safely and securely, thanks to the item's special elastic pockets."

While offering all passengers comfort, even on the bumpiest of roads, it has actually been produced to be as light-weight and super-strong as possible, weighing in at a measly 11 ounces, and made from the highest quality products available on the market. According to the company spokesman, it's been produced with maximum use in mind, by using its secure wraparound system that stays securely in place, either facing forward for the driver, or backwards for the car passengers. He added: "Whether it's a flying car, or a driving car, things are bound to slide around and fall to the floor, but with this organization system in place, the car of today can be as sleek and neat as the car of tomorrow."

Asked if the Freddie and Sebbie vehicle organizer could really be put up to test, primary spokesperson Neil Speight responded: "Put to the test? Of course it can! Freddie and Sebbie is built on value and quality. Even if cars of the future don't arrive for another 100 years, you can be ensured that this vehicle organizer will stand the test of time. And what if it doesn't? Well, simply get it replaced with the free no-quibble life-time Freddie and Sebbie guarantee, which is bundled with each among our products!" Freddie and Sebbie's luxury vehicle organizer is available to purchase solely from their Amazon storefront, with more information about this and the rest of their future-proof range of accessories to be found on their site, freddieandsebbie.com.

About Freddie and Sebbie™

Freddie and Sebbie Kids Line products are made to the highest standards in quality, safety, value for money and reliability. We believe in giving the very best to both parent and child, by providing helpful accessories exclusively available on Amazon.

Source: Flying Cars On the Horizon Now Fact Not Fiction

Dutch engineer develops autonomous quadcopter vehicle

Personal flight vehicles are still a long way from reality But a Dutch software engineer says he's a step closer with a quadcopter capable of carrying a passenger. Thorstin Crijn's Quadro is designed to transport passengers without manual control. A kind of flying taxi. (SOUNDBITE) (English), SOFTWARE ENGINEER, THORSTIN CRIJNS, SAYING: "What I envision is that governments could use this transportation system, and a person could use a smart phone, call the drone, get in there and go to their desired location" The quadcopter's twenty engines are powered by lithium battery and the structure made from an aluminium alloy. It's controlled by the MultiWii Autopilot system, which is able to stabilise the vehicle. So far, the Quadro has accomplished 10 seconds in the air while carrying a passenger. And Crijns is negotiating with Dutch aviation authorities for a flight permit. And he's determined to prove his vehicle's safe. (SOUNDBITE) (English), SOFTWARE ENGINEER, THORSTIN CRIJNS, SAYING "It's not only about technological challenges, but also about awareness, people should trust this device, that's also really important, and I think for all that to happen it will take 15 years or something." The Quadro joins other attempts to achieve Jetsons-style flying cars. Britain-based Malloy Aeronautics showcased a small scale "Hoverbike" quadcopter - complete with a humanoid passenger - at this year's Paris Air Show. Their full-size version is now being developed in collaboration the U.S. Defense Department.

Source: Dutch engineer develops autonomous quadcopter vehicle

Flying Cars Are Not Going to Become a Reality Soon

By: Arthur St. Antoine | Illustration by Tim Marrs

Flying cars are in the air again. That is, if you believe the mainstream media's latest round of breathless headlines ("Flying Car Companies Aim for Takeoff in 2017," gushed CNN recently) and the silly notion that a machine can be both aircraft and automobile at the same time.

Not that I don't wish it were true. I want a flying car. I also want a jet pack as user-friendly as a Honda Civic, a personal submarine that folds into a briefcase, and a world-class pepperoni pizza that reverses graying hair. And by now, damn it, I should have a flying car. I mean, ever since I was a kid, inventors, visionaries, and charlatans have been promising that "very soon" I'd be zipping around the sky in a fabulous gravity-defying pod that lifts me off from my driveway, whisks me straight to my destination, and lands me softly on a barstool. Instead, in 2015, I have a phone that talks on its own and orbiting space satellites that keep trying to beam "Duck Dynasty" into my family room.

Part of the problem is simple semantics. When most dreamers talk of "flying cars," what they really mean is "driving planes." Almost every flying car ever built—from Robert Fulton's 1946 Airphibian (an aluminum car with detachable fabric wings) to the sleek, folding-wing prototypes now being developed by Slovakian maker AeroMobil and Massachusetts-based Terrafugia—is actually a plane with a modicum of roadworthiness. You still need a runway to take off and land (not very helpful when you're trying to hop over to Madison Square Garden for the big game). Nor can you really drive your "car" once on the ground: In a crash test, a vehicle light enough to be airworthy would fare about as well as a Ming vase. Even if flying cars are able to meet government regulations, anything that flies will always be exceptionally vulnerable. In a car, a fender bender is annoying. In an aircraft, with its fragile control surfaces and mission-critical shapes, well, you're grounded .

Besides, what a flying-car hopeful really wants is something more akin to a helicopter. Vertical takeoffs and landings with no massive supporting infrastructure needed. Something along the lines of inventor Paul Moller's M400 Skycar, a four-rotor machine designed to take off straight up and then, by tilting its rotors, thrust forward like an airplane. Trouble is, after some 40 years of work and roughly $200 million of investor cash burned, the Skycar has yet to climb out of ground effect (that's a scientific term for "not even as high as Portland's Paul Bunyan statue"). Still, one can't help but admire a man who so brilliantly combines the tenacity of a carpenter ant with the chutzpah of P.T. Barnum.

Here's the saddest reality of all: Building a working flying car is the easy part. Many flying-car prototypes—from the vintage Airphibian to Terrafugia's new Transition—have indeed flown. But thus far, they've only been in the air with experienced test pilots at the controls. I spent more than eight months of intensive training and study before earning my private pilot's license, and even that only allowed me to fly relatively simple fixed-wing aircraft in good visual conditions. That's because operating a machine in three dimensions—along with potentially tens or hundreds of other machines occupying roughly the same space—is a complex affair. You're controlling not just speed and direction but altitude, too. You're in frequent radio contact with various ground controllers (and sometimes other aircraft) to maintain separation and proper position. You're constantly vigilant of the weather. And you're always monitoring a slew of systems—from navigation to fu el to engine performance—that in case of a problem can't be fixed simply by pulling to the side of the road. These are not the sort of challenges a teenager masters after a week at Ned's Thrifty Flying Car Driving School.

I'm not saying the dream is impossible. After all, mankind advanced from the first powered airplane flight to landing on the moon in just 66 years. But flying cars are not going to become a reality in 2017, or probably in 2027, for that matter. Massive advances in powerplants, flight controls, automated systems, and computer guidance will be required. Only when the world is safe from Biff and Buffy dreamily text-messaging in the cockpits of their Air Camrys will cars ever really fly. Meanwhile, I'm betting pigs get there first.

Source: Flying Cars Are Not Going to Become a Reality Soon

A Step Closer To The Flying Car - Terrafugia TF-X Ready In 2022 With Vertical Take-Off

4 photos

The flying car has been, and it is, one of modern humanity's technological dreams since the early 1900s, when the great visionaries of the automotive world put the first car on wheels. Technological progress is relatively slow, until 2000 at least, and the legal problems that such an invention would have had stopped in the bud the few attempts.

But 2009 brought to the forefront a company that promised to produce a series flying car. Obviously there is no clear deadline for the launch, but the Americans from Terrafugia, a company formed by engineers and scientists gathered around the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), presented the Transition concept, as a variant closer in terms of technology of what could become a flying car.

Currently, there are only two companies seriously involved with launching a flying car - Aeromobil and Terrafugia.This car could transport passengers to their destination via air when this is reasonably possible. The Transition concept made en ough waves in the press, especially because the technology boom started to become a serious one, thanks to the explosion of the Internet and personal gadgets.

Well, Terrafugia continues to research and develop the idea of flying car, and in 2015 their new product has a different name: TF-X. The new concept is an evolved one and company representatives say it is very close to a possible series production, if this will be legalized in the near future.

But powertrain solutions and performance of the new Terrafugia TF-X are the ones that impress: the flying car has a hybrid propulsion system, which spins the wheels on the asphalt and the rotors with which it flies when airborn. The air autonomy of the Terrafugia TF-X is 800 kilometers (500 miles) and takeoff is done vertically (like helicopters do today), which means that TF-X does not need a runway.

Although Terrafugia has not provided data about the maximum air speed, it is likely that we are talking about figures better than those of the Transition, the first concept of the company, which announced three years ago a speed of 160 kilometers per hour – 100 mph (it had been rumored to be at about 322 km/h – 200 mph).

If the first thing you think when you hear of such a car is linked in any way to how it can be piloted when in the air, everything is solved simply by the producing company: Terrafugia TF-X has fully autonomous flight, which means that it avoids the p roblems of potential traffic, recognizes areas where the weather is not favorable for flight, knows restricted air zones and it does an automatic landing instead of the driver-pilot. If unforeseen circumstances arise that could endanger the lives of passengers, the Terrafugia TF-X also has a complete parachute system which solves the problem of forced landing without damage.Most likely future owners of these cars will not need a pilot's license, which is necessary for the flying car from Aeromobil.

Even if Terrafugia claims that the TF-X's design it is ready for production, the actual development of the car will take at least eight years, which means that flying cars could be seen on the roads and possibly in the air no earlier than 2022.

There is no official price, but first information from the company revolves around a sum that rivals that of a luxury car, so around or above 300,000 euros.

Source: A Step Closer To The Flying Car - Terrafugia TF-X Ready In 2022 With Vertical Take-Off

Instead of hoverboards and flying cars, real progress should mean solving inequality

Twenty-six years ago, the film Back to the Future II made some incredible predictions about 2015. When its main character, Marty McFly, traveled to this year, he saw a world where hoverboards and flying cars served as main forms of transportation, where people wore self-lacing shoes and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

Parts of this vision may soon come true. Lexus claims to have cracked the code to construct hoverboards, Aeromobil hopes to sell its first flying cars in 2017, and Nike says it will produce power laces later in 2015. (As for the Cubs, who haven't been to the World Series in 70 years, maybe not).

The people of 2015—millenials—are famously open-minded and innovative, liberated and entrepreneurial. Some women in this age group are much more likely to go to college than their predecessors, and both women and men of this generation are redefining workplaces with a focus on work-life balance and a  The gender pay gap is not projected to close until 2058.  concern for diversity. Millennial stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift are speaking out against the structural issues that prevent equality.

But in other ways, progress has stalled. Remarkably, while we can make flying cars and self-tying shoes and digital startups, millennials also face gender and racial disparities that are as striking as any increased opportunities.

The racial wealth gap in the United States continues to be large and has grown since the recession. The net worth of white Americans is now 13 times greater than that of black Americans and 10 times greater than that of Latinos. The nation has also made little advancement in closing the wage gap between men and women in recent years. At the rate of change we've seen since 1960, the gender gap is not projected to close until 2058 (pdf, p. xviii).

When it comes to economic security, millennial women fare worse than men their age. Although more women of this generation are getting college degrees than men, these women are more likely than their male counterparts to live in poverty, have lower earnings and savings and face higher student debt burdens (pdf, p. 7).

For many in this group, going to college is not even a possibility. More than three in ten young adults have not advanced beyond high school. About one in five are poor. Among young black, Latino and Native American adults, poverty rates are especially high. And for every racial and ethnic group, women are more likely than men to be poor.

 The dream may be dimming as the opportunity gap continues to grow. Geography matters, too. In Mississippi, about 75% of millennial women do not have a bachelor's degree and 34% live in poverty. In Maryland and Alaska, the best-ranking states on young women's poverty, about one in seven women of this generation are poor.

These data indicate that while for some young adults equality and opportunity are becoming more and more a reality, for others they are barely a dream. And that dream may be dimming as the opportunity gap continues to grow.

Many people have pointed to important economic reforms that can address the widening gap—such as raising the minimum wage, increasing college affordability, investing in public education and fully enforcing equal pay and equal employment opportunity laws.

But in addition to economic policies that help to bridge the inequality gap, we need policies and programs that develop social networks and supports. This may include community-based supports that strengthen social ties by providing space, connections and networking opportunities, as well as support services like child care and transportation that enable young women and men to complete education or job training programs.

One study of a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to building local supports and social networks for low-income women found that many program participants wanted to attend college but had limited knowledge about how to realize that dream. Only after talking with friends or acquaintances who were enrolled did they overcome the "how to" barrier and enroll, putting themselves on a path to experience the positive financial and other benefits that education brings.

A multifaceted approach that includes building social networks and supports as well as economic reforms can help us get back to a future where all young adults—and not just some—can flourish in a world that offers them improved opportunities and tangible signs of progress.

Read more from Cynthia here. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

Source: Instead of hoverboards and flying cars, real progress should mean solving inequality

A Step Closer To The Flying Car - Terrafugia TF-X Ready In 2022 With Vertical Take-Off

4 photos

The flying car has been, and it is, one of modern humanity's technological dreams since the early 1900s, when the great visionaries of the automotive world put the first car on wheels. Technological progress is relatively slow, until 2000 at least, and the legal problems that such an invention would have had stopped in the bud the few attempts.

But 2009 brought to the forefront a company that promised to produce a series flying car. Obviously there is no clear deadline for the launch, but the Americans from Terrafugia, a company formed by engineers and scientists gathered around the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), presented the Transition concept, as a variant closer in terms of technology of what could become a flying car.

Currently, there are only two companies seriously involved with launching a flying car - Aeromobil and Terrafugia.This car could transport passengers to their destination via air when this is reasonably possible. The Transition concept made en ough waves in the press, especially because the technology boom started to become a serious one, thanks to the explosion of the Internet and personal gadgets.

Well, Terrafugia continues to research and develop the idea of flying car, and in 2015 their new product has a different name: TF-X. The new concept is an evolved one and company representatives say it is very close to a possible series production, if this will be legalized in the near future.

But powertrain solutions and performance of the new Terrafugia TF-X are the ones that impress: the flying car has a hybrid propulsion system, which spins the wheels on the asphalt and the rotors with which it flies when airborn. The air autonomy of the Terrafugia TF-X is 800 kilometers (500 miles) and takeoff is done vertically (like helicopters do today), which means that TF-X does not need a runway.

Although Terrafugia has not provided data about the maximum air speed, it is likely that we are talking about figures better than those of the Transition, the first concept of the company, which announced three years ago a speed of 160 kilometers per hour – 100 mph (it had been rumored to be at about 322 km/h – 200 mph).

If the first thing you think when you hear of such a car is linked in any way to how it can be piloted when in the air, everything is solved simply by the producing company: Terrafugia TF-X has fully autonomous flight, which means that it avoids the p roblems of potential traffic, recognizes areas where the weather is not favorable for flight, knows restricted air zones and it does an automatic landing instead of the driver-pilot. If unforeseen circumstances arise that could endanger the lives of passengers, the Terrafugia TF-X also has a complete parachute system which solves the problem of forced landing without damage.Most likely future owners of these cars will not need a pilot's license, which is necessary for the flying car from Aeromobil.

Even if Terrafugia claims that the TF-X's design it is ready for production, the actual development of the car will take at least eight years, which means that flying cars could be seen on the roads and possibly in the air no earlier than 2022.

There is no official price, but first information from the company revolves around a sum that rivals that of a luxury car, so around or above 300,000 euros.

Source: A Step Closer To The Flying Car - Terrafugia TF-X Ready In 2022 With Vertical Take-Off

Voting rights for felons, hybrid flying cars & unlimited parental leave (E076)

In this episode of Watching the Hawks, Tyrel Ventura and Sean Stone discuss a new report by Syracuse University showing that white collar criminal prosecutions are at a 20-year low. Tyrel and Sean go on to talk about California's decision to restore voting rights for low level felons. Tyrel highlights a new hybrid flying car. WTH is joined by Tabetha Wallace from Hiroshima, Japan to talk about the Hiroshima anniversary ceremony. WTH wraps up the show with an interview with Boom Bust host, Erin Ade, to talk about Netflix's decision to offer unlimited parental leave.

Check us out on Facebook:

http://fb.me/WatchingTheHawks

Follow us @http://twitter.com/WatchingTyrelhttp://twitter.com/WatchingTabethahttp://twitter.com/scstone5

Source: Voting rights for felons, hybrid flying cars & unlimited parental leave (E076)

No flying cars, but Lexus unveils the hoverboard

MARTY McFly would be impressed. It's 2015 and the hoverboard has arrived just like the Back to the Future sequel predicted.

But, it was Lexus, not Mattel, that unveiled this incredible technology that uses magnets and liquid nitrogen.

Lexus said the hoverboard was the product of an 18-month collaboration between scientists from IFW Dresden and magnetic levitation technology firm evico GmbH.

"The Lexus hoverboard technology features two "cryostats" - reservoirs in which superconducting material is kept at minus 197 degrees through immersion in liquid nitrogen," Lexus said in a statement.

"The board is then placed above a track that contains permanent magnets."

Evico CEO Oliver de Hass said the technology enabled the hoverboard rider to carry out a variety of tricks.

"The magnetic field from the track is effectively 'frozen' into the superconductors in the board, maintaining the distance between the board and the track - essentially keeping the board hovering," he said.

"This force is strong enough to allow the rider to stand and even jump on the board."

The lucky pro skateboarder chosen to test the hoverboard, Ross McGouran, showcased the technology in a film by award-winning director Henry-Alex Rubin.

"I've spent 20 years skateboarding, but without friction it feels like I've had to learn a whole new skill, particularly in the stance and balance in order to ride the hoverboard," Mr McGouran said.

"It's a whole new experience."

It may look like a regular skate park on the surface, but, up to 200 metres of magnetic track lies under the Lexus 'hoverpark'.

Source: No flying cars, but Lexus unveils the hoverboard

The autonomous flying car is set to become reality... in ten years

Hang on a minute, these are just computer renderings...

True but they're computer renderings of the future - a future where we all drive around in cars that can take to the skies at the press of a button. Exciting eh?

Eh, we've been talking about flying cars for ages. Is this for real?

Terrafugia actually already has a track record for creating flying cars. You can head to its website and purchase The Transition - a car that's road legal in the USA and can fly in and out of over 5,000 public airports - right now. It's not quite as smart as the TF-X, but it exists and it works.

What's different about this swanky TF-X model?

It's an upcoming vehicle that uses two high-powered electric motors and a 296bhp petrol engine, which not only propels the four-seater family cruiser along the road but also powers turbines that allow for vertical take-off and landing. Owners with the correct qualifications can fly it pretty much anywhere they want, or noobs can punch a destination into the on-board computer and let the car do all the hard work.

So you don't have to know how to fly?

Not at all. Its maker claims that it can fly itself around 500-miles on a full charge, with the petrol tanks full to the brim. That's because the TF-X navigates to a catalogue of pre-set destinations using the latest computer technology. Of course, the owner can take over at any time should things start to go a bit wrong.

Is it safe?

Who knows, it's all a bit of a concept for the time being but Terrafugia - pronounced ter-ra-FOO-gee-ah, which means 'escape the earth' in Latin - claims the TF-X will be capable of automatically avoiding other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace.

Plus, there's a full-vehicle back-up parachute system should the worst happen.

What is it like on the road?

Likely quite large and cumbersome thanks to it packing a foldable set of wings and propellers, but it is guaranteed to fit inside a standard American garage. On the road, it uses power from an electric motor and large battery packs, while the petrol motor kicks in for added boost during take-off and landing.

It won't bother any Lamborghinis but it can fly, what more could you want? 

When can I buy one?

You can buy The Transition now for around $600,000 but it doesn't look anywhere near as cool as the TF-X and it isn't capable of the auto landing and take-off stuff. Development of the TF-X is due to last 8-12 years, which gives you plenty of time to start saving.

This article originally appeared at Stuff.tv

Source: The autonomous flying car is set to become reality... in ten years

94-year-old Racine building a flying car

Racine -

For decades, people have been imagining a future world where we'd all have access to flying cars. Well there's a 94-year old inventor in Racine who's been working on the concept for a while now we got a look at the progress he's making.

A flying car? It's not something you typically hear of, but Russell Solheim says building one of these has been his lifelong dream.

"Well this is a helicopter right now but when I build the surround around it, it'll be a flying car," said Solheim. 

That's right-a fully functioning helicopter and car, all in one. 

"This will go at most 80 miles an hour in the air. On the ground it would be a normal car," said Solheim. 

 Solheim, a former mechanical engineer has been perfecting  this particular model for a long time 

"I got my patent in 2003," he said. But he's been thinking up the concept since 1995. 

For years, people have been trying to build a flying car, some with success but Solheim's is the first of its kind.

"There was one at the airshow last week. An excellent one. Beautiful car. But it requires a runway," said Solheim. 

 Solheim has patented retractable rotary blades that extend out 16 feet when the motor is started, as you see in this model version. Springs pull them back in after flight. 

"You can come home and put it right in your garage. You save the cost of paying for a hangar," he said. 

The base, a Wilson helicopter, is nearly complete, while Solheim tweaks his plans for the car.

"Where is the engine of the car going to be?" asked our reporter. 

"I haven't decided yet," said Solheim. 

Solheim says the flying car is about two years from completion but he's already planning for the idea to take off.

"In the future if these are successful, the city would have to have cement take off places here and there, instead of driving all the way to the airport," he said. 

Solheim's next move is getting the plane off the ground. He hopes to have it hovering at least a foot off the ground in the next few weeks. 

And though this plane has yet to take flight, Solheim says he's got high hopes that it will happen in the next two years.  

Source: 94-year-old Racine building a flying car

Terrafugia takes flying cars to new heights

Humans were dreaming about flight long before a couple of bicycle mechanic brothers made it a reality in 1903.

Now an American company hopes to take flight to the next dimension by putting it on roadways.

Terrafugia's TF-X will let you pull out of your standard garage, find an open clearing, push a button and ascend above all your worries and traffic into the sky.

The Woburn, Mass.-based company with MIT-trained aerospace engineers has two models in development, the Transition fixed-wing plane and the TF-X plug-in hybrid.

The "first practical flying car," according to Terrafugia, the street-legal Transition has wings that fold like a goose's to fit in a typical single-car garage, allowing the vehicle to be driven down the road into and out of airports. It runs on unleaded automotive gasoline, and Terrafugia says the conversion is "comparable to putting down the top on your convertible." It has a steering wheel, brake and gas pedals, a stick and rudder pedals for flight, and has been tested on the road and sky as recently as fall 2012. It's expected to cost $279,000.

The Transition appears to have paved the runway for the development of the TF-X.

The TF-X is the stuff of sci-fi dreams, with wings that fold into the side and underbody when on the street, then open like gull wings tipped with twin rotors that launch it vertically into the sky. Pull out of your garage, find a clear level space 100 feet in diameter, push a button and the computer-controlled craft will take off.

Terrafugia estimates it takes about five hours to figure out how to safely operate the TF-X, which comes with automatic and manual modes. Prior to departure, the driver-pilot-operator enters a landing zone into navigation that we hope is much more advanced than current nav systems, then adds a few backup points just in case. If there's not enough energy to land at the first, then the system will use the next nearest point, as long as there is a 30-minute reserve of energy. If the forecast is inhospitable or the energy-distance equation is off, the computer won't let you depart. The driver-pilot can override a landing, and the computer will redirect to the nearest airport for a horizontal, or normal, airplane landing. Then there's a full-vehicle parachute system if all else fails. Operation of the door-to-door TF-X sounds like a breeze.

It seats four and can be recharged from EV charging stations (and we expect a 240-volt home electricity charger). With a 500-mile range, it has double the range of even the best plug-in cars. That should ground range anxiety.

The stated mission of Terrafugia is to be the vanguard of the flying car industry, but it has some company.

A gallery in Popular Mechanics shows that flying cars have been in development for decades, for better or worse.

Last October we reported on AeroMobil, a Slovakian startup company that had been air testing its 3.0 prototype and seemed to be poised to be the first to reach market. But it crashed during testing May 8. The pilot, Stefan Klein, co-founder and inventor of AeroMobil, was able to eject himself to parachute safely from a height of about 900 feet as the flying car went into a tailspin before crashing, the U.K.'s Independent reported. The money lost on the prototype alone, not to mention the legal issues, surely set the company back.

Terrafugia, led by CEO and co-founder Carl Dietrich, has been prototype testing since 2007. The company was a subcontractor for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop concepts for a semi-autonomous, dual-mode vehicle for the U.S. military. Yet the TF-X has civilian ambitions.

"Designed to be the flying car for all of us," the TF-X could be "on-par with very high-end luxury cars of today," Terrafugia predicts. Pricing of the TF-X will not be known until much nearer delivery; development is estimated at eight to 12 years. The company is open to investors, and reservations for the Transition start with a $10,000 refundable deposit.

rduffer@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @DufferRobert

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Source: Terrafugia takes flying cars to new heights