For Dale Earnhardt Jr., flying cars shouldn't be in NASCAR's Daytona future

Updated at 6:07 p.m. ET

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows where he wants his car — with all four wheels on the track.

He also knows there are times when racing at Daytona and Talladega becomes a problem of aerodynamics. He saw it first-hand last year when Austin Dillon's airborne car crashed into the catch fence at race's end. And he'd rather not see it happen again.

MORE: Looking back at Dillon's crash | Here comes the rain again | Schedule

"It was frightening," Earnhardt told media members Thursday at Daytona, where he and fellow Sprint Cup drivers were preparing for this weekend's race. "In the [rear-view] mirror it was hard to tell what part of his car got into the fence. I just was worried about Austin, hoping he was OK. I think that was everyone's initial reaction. Watching it from the mirror, I couldn't tell whether the bottom of the car or the top hit the fence."

Dillon walked away from the remnants of his wrecked car with an experience he never wants to repeat. Yet at NASCAR's two superspeedways, Daytona and Talladega, where cars would hit 210 mph were it not for restrictor plates, physics conspire to turn racecars into hapless toys tossed end over end.

And Earnhardt has been around racing long enough to know there's little to prevent that from happening. It happened three times in May's Talladega race, and it could well happen again during Saturday night's Daytona race.

"Cars are going to get in the air at these race tracks," Earnhardt said. "In certain circumstances, they'll get airborne anywhere, really. In a bad situation, there's just as much potential here as there is at Michigan or anywhere else."I know it's been a topic of discussion at the plate tracks, particularly after Talladega. I'm hopeful NASCAR is looking at ways to keep the cars on the ground."

Dangerous, yet thrilling for everyone not directly involved.

NASCAR decided against making rules changes for the Daytona race, the Coke Zero 400. For Junior, that's OK.

"It's two different tracks," he said. "Hopefully, that will play a role in keeping things a little safer for the drivers.

"We definitely didn't like what we saw at Talladega. We'd rather not get upside-down if we don't have to."

He'll get few arguments.

Earnhardt won last year's race, one of his four career victories at Daytona. He knows what it takes to win restrictor-plate races, where packs of cars get turned into scrap in the blink of an eye.

"You've got to put yourself in some pretty compromising situations that are touch-and-go," he said. "You've got to put yourself in some situations that are pretty sketchy if you want to win the race."

Going upside down won't work.

Source: For Dale Earnhardt Jr., flying cars shouldn't be in NASCAR's Daytona future

Toyota patent filing shows another hope for the flying car

The flying car is the holy grail of futurism. For decades, the cover of Popular Mechanics has claimed we'd one day be able to leave traffic jams and potholes behind and soar through the skies in our own personal conveyances. But so far, marrying car and aircraft hasn't gone well despite the best efforts of companies like Terrafugia.

Toyota's patent filing is for car with adjustable body panels. It's a sleek thing, almost teardrop shaped, with the world's most adorable little propeller on its butt. But underneath that shape-shifting skin is a creative means of hiding the wings. Rather than folding them onto the body for road driving, like a Terrafugia, Toyota wants to stow flight surfaces underneath the actual body panels. The wings pop out and provide roll control, while canards ahead of the front axle are like what you'd find on a Eurofighter Typhoon – they provide the pitch, and possibly yaw control (there's no obvious rudder or tailfin).

According to the patent, which To yota filed in December 2014 but the US Patent and Trademark Office just published, "The fuselage includes a plurality of flexible frame members and tensile skin extending between the plurality of flexible frame members as well as an actuation system configured to bend the plurality of flexible frame members between a contracted configuration associated with a flight mode and an expanded configuration associated with a land mode."

The fact that Toyota is messing around with this concept with enough seriousness to file a patent is telling. Then again, automakers file patents for just about anything, whether it came from a janitor scribbling on a napkin or an executive brainstorming session. In other words, this patent is cool, but we doubt Toyota's going to offer a flying Prius in the near future.

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Source: Toyota patent filing shows another hope for the flying car

Toyota Awarded Patent For ‘Stackable Wing’ Flying Car

The idea of flying cars was introduced by sci-fi author Jules Verne in 1904, and has adorned numerous covers of Popular Mechanics magazine since 1906.

There has been recent development in cars that fly, including a company that Google co-founder Larry Page invested in, but Toyota's apparent toe-in-the-water raises some questioning eyebrows.

The Japanese automaker has recently been awarded a patent it filed back in March 2014 that covers a "stackable wing for an aerocar."

Aerocars are defined as vehicles that may be driven on roads as well as take off, fly, and land as aircraft.

The patent illustration presents a body style with a rear end similar to the last generation Prius that has a flexible frame and a rear mounted propeller.

Toyota's stackable wing design does resolve one of the major challenges of flying cars.

Rather than wings that fold out from the sides of the vehicle, making it too wide for conventional roads, Toyota's idea is a stack of multiple wings on top of the vehicle to provide needed aerodynamic lift.

SEE ALSO: Toyota May Buy Two Robotics Units from Google's Parent Company

When the car is in what Toyota describes as the "roadable mode," additional wings can be stacked atop the first.

When the driver wants to transition from driving to flight, one wing rises from the roof and rotates into position, a second can then be deployed, followed by a third and fourth.

According to the patent, the aerocar could be propelled by such things as "a pusher propeller, open rotor, turbofan, or other thrust generation system in flight mode."

If a flying car patent were issued to say, Honda, who already has the Honda Jet, self-propelled lawn mowers and the Asimo robot, no one would have second thoughts.

But maybe Toyota isn't really thinking about a flying car, instead it's trying to figure out a way to make a car that hovers.

At a Next Big Thing Summit in San Francisco a couple of years back, Hiroyoshi Yoshiki — the managing officer with Toyota's technical administration group — said the plan is to get the car "a little bit away" from the road to reduce friction, similar to a hovercraft.

Then again, the automotive giant might just be hedging its bets on the future when flying cars are no longer a dream.TOYOTA

In Auto News

Source: Toyota Awarded Patent For 'Stackable Wing' Flying Car

The Future Of Transportation -- Not Self-Driving, But Self-Flying

A few years ago I traveled to Tanzania with a few good friends. We went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. As we drove through the African countryside, one thing stood out to me -- many people had cell phones. Tanzania never had the necessary capital to invest in landlines, but now it has leapfrogged into a completely new way of facilitating communication, going far beyond the old telephone technology.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I went to Manila to spend some time with my company's team in Makati. The traffic there is brutal. In the Philippines, very little civil planning takes place. To address the congestion problem, it would require massive amounts of investment, and frankly even then the problem would not be fixed. In a place like Manila, self-driving vehicles will not work, since there are no standardized roads and highways. If you've traveled much, you know that the Philippines is far from being an exception in that regard.

Self-driving is complicated and incredibly expensive. It requires moving safely in a two-dimensional fashion, with little room to maneuver and no room for error. It requires an extensive grid of proper and properly-maintained roads and highways with standardized streets, lines, signs, signals, lights and on and on. This two-dimensional traffic grid must provide protection for pedestrians and bicyclists.

If you think about it, self-flying could create a much easier solution.

Don't believe it? Just consider the analogy of landlines vs. mobile phones. Our cell phones free us from the limiting wired technology we used for over one hundred years, which connected us to the earth -- but tethered us to it, as well. In the same way wireless phones freed us from that wired tether, self-flying transportation could free us from the massive limitation of cars and highways. It would require no roads, signs or signals. You could travel in a three dimensional fashion, with massively more opportunities to avoid accidents. Adding another dimension frees up an enormous amount of space, and the traffic problem that plagues every urban area could go away immediately. Self-flying vehicles could travel in a straight line instead of following roads, which would also make them much more efficient, using less energy and faster getting from point A to point B.

But wouldn't we all have to be trained pilots? No-we already have drones, and now we have the technology to develop people-carrying drones. With no need to learn how to fly, you would only need to tell the vehicle where to go. Imagine it: a multi-copter, passenger-carrying automatic drone equipped with a parachute could be the safest, most efficient way to travel. Yes, it sounds like science fiction -- but it's not.

So here's my prediction: Apple is not building a self-driving car. Apple is building a self-flying, people carrying drone, and they're not the only ones. At CES this year, the Ehang 184 debuted--an autonomous, all-electric quadcopter. Larry Page, the founder of Google, has his hand in two autonomous flying car startups, called Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk, both headquartered in Silicon Valley. Several other companies -- Terrafugia, E-Volo and AeroMobil among them -- have working prototypes.

That makes self-driving cars a bridge technology, which we will leapfrog very rapidly, before we all take to the skies.

Source: The Future Of Transportation -- Not Self-Driving, But Self-Flying

Toyota patent for shapeshifting flying car revealed

Toyota's idea for a flying vehicle goes beyond fixed wings or even ones that retract to the side of its body; in this patent filed back in December 2014, but just published this month by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the vehicle in Toyota's patent hides its wings within its fuselage when retracted.

For that to work, the flexible wings are housed in the rear portion of the vehicle, covered by movable panels. These panels open and close in a gullwing door type of manner, hinged at the vehicle's roof. The wings can then fold or unfurl once the movable panel make way for the wings. It also appears in the patent drawings that parts of the fuselage can be altered by telescopic struts, possibly to adapt to airflow characteristics when in flight.

There was no mention of the type of engine the car will use, but the diagrams show a rear-mounted propeller for propulsion. There isn't a visible second propeller, nor is there a vertical surface such as a rudder for directional control in flight; presumably those duties are handled by flaps or ailerons on the flexible wings.

From Toyota's patent filing in 2014 until the present, there has been more development in the area of flying cars; Slovakian company Aeromobil has developed three generations of a flying car, while Google co-founder Larry Page has reportedly invested in two separate companies, each running a flying car programme in parallel.

Aeromobil's concept is built around a retractable wing design with variable angle of attack, which enables take-off within a "few hundred metres," according to Aeromobil, while the tough suspension is intended to allow operation from less than ideal runways.

Meanwhile, both companies funded by Page work independently and do not speak to each other; the first, named Zee.Aero, has been working on a fixed wing, narrow fuselage design with propellers at the rear of the vehicle, while the second, smaller operation named Kitty Hawk has been working on a design similar to that of a quadcopter.

Source: Toyota patent for shapeshifting flying car revealed

Watch The Flying Car Of The Future, Now

GLOBAL

The Terrafugia Transition getting classified as a light sport aircraft is a big deal for the future of flying cars.

Jun 27, 2016 at 5:18 PM ET

The Jetsons promised that the future would be full of flying cars and something called "sprockets," but, until very recently, both of those promises of the retro cartoon future were tragically unfulfilled. But as of recently, we're closer to flying cars than we've ever been. The FAA classified the Terrafugia Transition as a "light sport aircraft." That means it's both street and sky-legal. Just don't get in an airborne fender bender.

Source: Watch The Flying Car Of The Future, Now

FAA green lights Terrafugia Transition flying car

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given a go-ahead for the Terrafugia Transition Flying car to be self-certified as Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) by waiving the weight and stall speed limits required for such certification.

Massachusetts-based flying car manufacturer applied for FAA waiver in 2014. To be certified as an LSA, a vehicle is required to weigh less than 1,320 pounds (598.7 kg) and have a max stall speed limit of 45 knots.

However, in order to make the Transition flying car road worthy, the company has to adhere to several safety norms which drove the weight up and resulted in higher stall speed. The company appealed for a waiver from FAA stating that the roll cage and crumple zones that are required for a road car will also make the vehicle safer than a regular LSA.

According to the waiver appeal, Terrafugia wanted the weight and stall speed limits to be pushed to 1,800 pound (816.4 kg) and 54 knots respectively. Now that the FAA has given a green light, the Transition and other such flying cars can finally be a reality.

The flying car folds its wings while on the road.

The Terrafugia Transition flying car has been in development since 2006 and took off for the first time in 2009. The second gen concept came into existence in 2012 and the company is set to get the third gen concept ready for testing in 2016-17.

Also read – Russian Irkut MC-21-300 medium-range twinjet passenger plane unveiled

Market launch of the flying car will take place once the testing of third generation model is completed.

Via – Aviationweek.com

Source: FAA green lights Terrafugia Transition flying car

Flying cars just took a big step closer to being legal

It looks like a goofy mosquito, its fat cockpit shoving through the wind while aloft, its wings folded up like a dragonfly while grounded. And it marks the biggest step toward a real, commercial flying car.

The Terrafugia Transition earned an exemption Sunday from the Federal Aviation Administration as a "light sport aircraft," meaning the federal government is on track to legalize the first flying car.

After a few more rounds of audits and paperwork, the Transition, a two-seated flying thingamajig, can take to the skies under the command of sport pilots, a low-threshold classification. Terrafugia can also commercially produce the aircraft without repeated burdensome federal airworthiness tests.

Flying-car industry executives say their products should enter the consumer market — albeit at a high price — in the next decade.

But all that depends on clearing regulatory hurdles both as automobiles and flying machines.

"We've worked with the FAA, and you're going to have your bureaucrats and people who don't want anything to change, but other people can see the future," said Paul Moller, president and chief executive of aviation firm Moller International.

Light sport aircraft should weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, seat two people, have non-retractable landing gear and strict speed limitations.

The Transition gained exceptions to be heavier, caused by federal automobile safety requirements, and to exceed the speed limits, because a heavier airplane has to fly faster.

Pilots can operate the aircraft with a "sport" license, which requires 20 hours of lessons.

The light sport classification was created in 2004 to allow airplane makers to design personal aircraft without the intense regulation required for larger flying machines. Bringing a new model aircraft to market in heavier "general aviation" classifications costs at least $50 million, said Carl Dietrich, Terrafugia's co-founder, chief executive and chief technology officer.

In the beginning, light sport classification did spur innovation among aircraft makers. Cessna, Piper and Cirrus all made light sports, then discontinued them. Profit margins were better on heavier, more luxurious aircraft.

That left the category mostly to inventors and small businesses that made planes for fun, said Dick Knapinski of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

And it left the skies open to flying cars.

A basic small car — the Toyota Corolla, for example — weighs 2,800 pounds. Strip out extra material to help it take flight, and it's not hard to meet FAA weight requirements, especially with a waiver.

Terrafugia's waiver shows a path for other flying car companies to get a federal go-ahead. Between roadworthiness and airworthiness, experts say, approval in the latter is much more difficult to attain.

In other words, it's easier to make a street-legal airplane than an air-legal car.

The Transition, and models from other companies looking to utilize the light sport classification, have the footprint of a large pickup truck. They have side-view and rear-view mirrors or display screens that eliminate blind spots caused by folding wings.

Terrafugia designed the vehicle so those with basic drivers licenses can use it on roadways, pending the approval of federal auto regulators.

They're part of a camp in the flying car industry that sees their machines taking off and landing on a runway, like a conventional airplane, then driving the "last mile" to a final destination. Others see the contraptions lifting off and landing vertically without the use of a runway.

Both can utilize the light sport category.

Slovakia-based Aeromobil also makes a flying-car-type vehicle that uses a runway. "We're trying to type-approve it as a plane and one that is recognizable as a plane, then we'll try to approve it as a car," said Douglas MacAndrew, Aeromobil's chief technical officer. "Those things are certainly technical challenges, but they're not legislative roadblocks as of now."

Source: Flying cars just took a big step closer to being legal

Flying cars bring issues

I recently read that Google co-founder Larry Page is trying to build a flying car.

According to the CNBC article, Page has invested in two aviation start-up companies.

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Source: Flying cars bring issues

Flying cars get go-ahead from the FAA: Terrafugia gets green light for transforming vehicle that could take to the skies by 2018

US firm Terrafugia's designs for a concept vehicle are in development

The designs include fold-out wings and helicopter-like rotor blades 

The vehicle will have a cruising speed of around 200mph (322 km/h) 

Firm expects an unmanned prototype will be ready to soar by 2018 

By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:04 EST, 24 June 2016 | Updated: 15:05 EST, 24 June 2016

View comments

The FAA has finally given the go ahead for one of the most famous flying car makers to certify its vehicles.

Terrafugia had asked the FAA for a waiver of weight and stall-speed limits so it can self-certify its Transition flying car as a light sport aircraft (LSA).

The resulting decision paves the way for flying cars to finally be certified.

Scroll down for video 

According to Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, a full-size unmanned prototype of its TF-X (illustrated) is expected to be ready by 2018 before it goes on general sale in 2024. It has now been given the go ahead to certyify a prototype version.

The Massachusetts-based startup applied for the waiver in 2014 when it became clear that meeting highway-safety requirements would drive the gross weight of its roadable aircraft above the 1, 320-lb. limit for LSAs, and push stall speed above the 45-kt. maximum, according to Aviation Week.

It applied for a waiver to allow an 1,800-lb. gross weight and 54-kt. stall speed on the basis that automotive occupant-protection features, including a safety cage and energy-absorbing crumple zones, would increase safety over that available in general-aviation aircraft. 

Terrafugia began development of the Transition in 2006, flying a proof-of-concept aircraft in 2009 and a second-generation prototype in 2012. 

A third-generation conforming prototype is under construction for testing in 2016–17, with deliveries planned to begin following completion of this testing. 

Earlier prototypes for the concept car had folding wings which spread out, ready for take off

Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia created the Transition, a road-legal airplane. The vehicle can seat two and is small enough to fit in a garage, and comes with col lapsible wings

The US company behind the concept vehicle TF-X is hoping a prototype will be ready to fly in just two years - and it will go on general sale within eight.

According to Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, a full-size unmanned prototype is expected to be ready by 2018.

The firm's concept car has fold-out wings with twin electric motors attached to each end.

TF-X: KEY SPECIFICATIONS 

The vehicle will have a cruising speed of 200 mph (322 km/h), along with a 500-mile (805 km) flight range. 

TF-X will have fold-out wings with twin electric motors attached to each end.

These motors allow the TF-X to move from a vertical to a horizontal position, and will be powered by a 300 hp engine.

The planned four-person TF-X will be semi-autonmous and use computer-controlled so that passengers can simply type in a destination before taking off. 

TF-X vehicles will be capable of automatically avoiding other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace.

The vehicle will be able to recharge its batteries either from its engine or by plugging in to electric car charging stations.

These motors allow the TF-X to move from a vertical to a horizontal position, and will be powered by a 300 horsepower engine. 

Thrust will be provided by a ducted fan, and the vehicle will have a cruising speed of 200 mph (322 km/h), along with a 500-mile (805 km) flight range.

Terrafugia said its aim is to provide 'true door-to-door transportation,' with the vehicle capable of being parked in a home garage like an ordinary car.

The planned four-person TF-X will be semi-autonmous and use computer-controls so that passengers can simply type in a destination before taking off. 

'The TF-X operator will have final say over whether an approved landing zone is a ctually a safe place in which to land, and they may abort the landing attempt at any time,' the company says.

The latest model was unveiled at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 

Terrafugia has already provided an animation showing how the vehicle would work. 

The TF-X concept car (illustrated) has fold-out wings with twin electric motors attached to each end. These motors allow the TF-X to move from a vertical to a horizontal position, and will be powered by a 300hp engine

Thrust will be provided by a ducted fan, and the vehicle will have a cruising speed of 200 mph (322 km/h), along with a 500-mile (805 km) flight range. The planned four-person TF-X will be semi-autonmous and use computer-controlled so that passengers can simply type in a destination before taking off

This shows the vehicle taking off by tilting its electric-powered propellers by 90 degrees.

As the vehicle moves to forward flight, the propellers spin around until they are parallel with the vehicle's body.

When the ducted fan activates, the propellers stop rotating and fold back along the nacelles.

A one-tenth scale model is being tested at the Wright Brothers wind tunnel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The trials will test everything from the drag, lift and thrust forces of the model.

A one-tenth scale model of the concept (pictured) is being tested at the Wright Brothers wind tunnel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The trials will test drag, lift and thrust forces of the model

The model was unveiled at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Pictured is an artist's impression

However, Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia said the TF-X will still be another eight to twelve years in development.

Last year, the same company unveiled a flying car known as the Transition, which has space for two passengers,

It is expected to cost around £183,000 ($261,000) when it goes on sale.

Owners will need a pilot and a driver's licence to operate the road-legal airplane, in addition to 20 hours of flying time under their belt.

But fulfill those requirements, and you'll be able to head down a motorway to an airport, and then take off on a conventional runway.

TF-X vehicles will be capable of automatically avoiding other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace. It can also be park ed outside a home like an ordinary car

Terrafugia also provided an animation showing how the T-FX would operate. To take-off, the video shows how electric-powered propellers tilt 90 degrees

The founding team behind the creation are Carl Dietrich, Samuel Schweighart, Anna Mracek Dietrich, Alex Min - friends from University, and they call the Transition 'our vision for the future of personal transportation.'

They said: 'We have been dreaming about flying cars since the turn of the 20th century. The Transition street-legal airplane is the first step on the road to the practical flying car.

'We're starting with proven technology and our product road map is designed to make personal aviation progressively safer and more accessible to a broader segment of the population.'

Source: Flying cars get go-ahead from the FAA: Terrafugia gets green light for transforming vehicle that could take to the skies by 2018

FAA Gives Flying Car Prototype the Go-Ahead as a Light Sport Aircraft

Terrafugia Transition

Terrafugia

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The Terrafugia Transition is a prototype automobile-aircraft that is about the closest thing to a flying car that we have. It's street legal and it can fly, and now the FAA has granted the Woburn, Massachusetts-based company exemption from weight and stall-speed limits so the Transition flying car can be certified as a light sport aircraft (LSA), according to Aviation Week.

A proof-of-concept Transition flying car prototype first flew in 2009, and a second-generation prototype (seen above) was developed in 2012. Terrafugia is working to complete a third-generation prototype by late 2016 or early 2017, and they hope to begin deliveries of the hybrid vehicle after flight-testing can be conducted on the third-generation prototype. 

To meet highway-safety requirements, the Transition needs to be heavier than the 1,320-pound limit the FAA has set for LSAs, which lead Terrafugia to apply for a waiver from the limit in 2014. The stall speed of the flying car is also inevitably going to be above the 45-kt. maximum for LSAs, but certain automotive safety features like a safety cage and crumple zone could be beneficial in general aviation, leading the FAA to waive the weight and stall-speed limits for the Transition. It's a big win for the car, which still faces a host of challenges before it can really come to market. 

Related Article

7 Reasons the Terrafugia Transition Isn't Coming to Your Garage

The TF-X is a wildly ambitious flying car concept, also from Terrafugia, that the company hopes will be the culmination of all their work developing the technology. The TF-X would magically transform from a luxury sedan to a tiltrotor-style aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing, and of traveling through the air at 200 mph. Terrafugia has an optimistic timeline of 8 to 12 years to develop the TF-X. 

Terrafugia TF-X

Terrafugia

A number of other companies are also chasing the dream of a flying car, including the Ehang flying taxi—basically a large drone that you can sit in—which was recently approved for flight tests in Nevada. 

The TF-X is a decade away by the most friendly estimates, and the Ehang is completely autonomous and has a range of only about 20 miles. The Terrafugia Transition, on the other hand, exists as a proof-of-concept, meets highway safety regulations, and it flies. The automobile-aircraft will be reserved primarily for wealthy private pilots who can drive to a local airport and take off from the runway, but damn will it be cool. 

Source: Aviation Week

From:

Source: FAA Gives Flying Car Prototype the Go-Ahead as a Light Sport Aircraft

The car race that will REALLY take off: California to get 219 mile circuit for flying cars to compete

First flying car race is set to take place in 2017, with 22 teams invited

Race will be divided in 3 categories: radio controlled, electric, unlimited

The vehicles will have to fly and drive 219 miles from California to Nevada

By Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:24 EST, 22 June 2016 | Updated: 18:04 EST, 22 June 2016

2

View comments

The West Coast may soon become a massive racetrack for flying cars.

Just days after the US federal government took a major step toward legalizing the versatile craft, inventor Dezso Molnar has announced the start of a revolutionary racing series.

The inaugural flying car race is set to take place next year, and so far, 22 teams have been invited.

The proposed races are an attempt to boost the development of this technology, using competition to bring innovators together. Pictured above is the Maverick, one of the craft invited to participate in Flying Car Racing

FLYING CARS INCH CLOSER TO LEGALITY 

The Transition was recently granted an exemption by the FAA.

This has folding w ings so it can drive on the ground like a car, or take to the sky. 

The exemption allows it to be classified as a 'light-sport' craft.

These aircraft weigh roughly 1,300 pounds and have fixed landing gear.

They seat a maximum of two people, including the pilot.

And to operate them, one must have a sport pilot certificate, which requires just 20 hours of training. 

Revealed in a series of interviews with Gizmag, the proposed races are an attempt to boost the development of this technology, using competition to bring innovators together.

The Flying Car Racing series will be divided among three categories of vehicles: radio controlled, electric, and unlimited flying cars.

Radio controlled vehicles are unma nned and guided by a human operator, while the others are both manned.

In the course, the vehicles must fly and drive 219 miles from California's El Mirage Lake, a dry lakebed, to the planned El Dorado Droneport in Nevada, near Boulder City.

The lakebed aims to provide a safe environment for high speed ground testing, as well as take-off and landing.

Here, pilots can drive their vehicles as fast as they want to, but must abide by the speed limit on the streets.

In the course, the vehicles must fly and drive 219 miles from California's El Mirage Lake, a dry lakebed, to the planned El Dorado Droneport in Nevada, near Boulder City

'It's a 200-mile (322-km) course through the desert, the classic Route 66 on the ground, and there's Class G airspace and about 15 airports in between,' Molnar told Gizmag.

'So if somebody has an ultralight aircraft, and it's a flying car, they will be able to fly their aircraft over completely unpopulated areas and compete between those two spots.'

The competition so far has just three requirements.

Inventor Dezso Molnar has announced the start of a revolutionary racing series for flying cars. Pictured above is the Terrafugia, one of the craft invited to participate in the races. This vehicle has folding wings so it can drive like a car, or take to the skies

All participants must be able to legally operate their flying cars both on the ground and in the air along the designated route. The Transition is pictured above

All participants must be able to legally operate their flying cars both on the ground and in the air along the designated route.

If they're not street legal, they may only take place in 'restricted trials' and above the El Mirage.

And, radio-controlled vehicles will be required to be raced within the visual range of the operator both on land and in the air.

The many flying cars vary in design, from gyrocopters to lightweight planes with folding wings. The Aeromobil is pictured above

There are multiple airports along the route, and Molnar explains that they will split up the trips, alternating between driving and flying.

Among the craft invited to race are the Maverick, Caravella Aerospace's Caravellair, the Aeromobil, and Terrafugia's Transition.

The many flying cars vary in design, from gyrocopters to lightweight planes with folding wings.

If they're not street legal, they may only take place in 'restricted trials' and above the El Mirage. The Switchblade flying trike is pictured above, in flight mode, with the Pal-V is pictured left, in gyroplane mode

The flying car races were announced just days after the US federal government took a major step toward legalizing the versatile craft. A craft from Caravella Aerospace is pictured above

It's been a big week for flying cars, and for Terrafugia in particular.

The Transition was recently granted an exemption by the FAA, allowing it to be classified as a 'light-sport' craft, a ccording to the Washington Post.

These aircraft weigh roughly 1,300 pounds and have fixed landing gear.

They seat a maximum of two people, including the pilot.

And to operate them, one must have a sport pilot certificate, which requires just 20 hours of training. 

 

 

Source: The car race that will REALLY take off: California to get 219 mile circuit for flying cars to compete

FAA LSA Waiver Clears Way For Transition Flying Car

The benefit of automotive safety features in general aviation have persuaded the FAA to grant Terrafugia a waiver of weight and stall-speed limits so it can self-certify its Transition flying car as a light sport aircraft ...

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Source: FAA LSA Waiver Clears Way For Transition Flying Car

Flying cars: soaring toward reality?

It looks like a goofy mosquito, its fat cockpit shoving through the wind while aloft, its wings folded up like a dragonfly while grounded. And it marks the biggest step toward a real, commercial flying car.

The Terrafugia Transition earned an exemption Sunday from the Federal Aviation Administration as a "light sport aircraft," meaning the federal government is on track to legalize the first flying car.

After a few more rounds of audits and paperwork, the Transition, a two-seated flying thingamajig, can take to the skies under the command of sport pilots, a low-threshold classification. Terrafugia can also commercially produce the aircraft without repeated burdensome federal airworthiness tests.

Flying-car industry executives say their products should enter the consumer market — albeit at a high price — in the next decade.

But all that depends on clearing regulatory hurdles both as automobiles and flying machines.

"We've worked with the FAA, and you're going to have your bureaucrats and people who don't want anything to change, but other people can see the future," said Paul Moller, president and chief executive of aviation firm Moller International.

Light sport aircraft should weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, seat two people, have nonretractable landing gear and strict speed limitations.

The Transition gained exceptions to be heavier, caused by federal automobile safety requirements, and to exceed the speed limits, because a heavier airplane has to fly faster.

Pilots can operate the aircraft with a "sport" license, which requires 20 hours of lessons.

The light sport classification was created in 2004 to allow airplane makers to design personal aircraft without the intense regulation required for larger flying machines. Bringing a new model aircraft to market in heavier "general aviation" classifications costs at least $50 million, said Carl Dietrich, Terrafugia's co-founder, chief executive and chief technology officer.

In the beginning, light sport classification did spur innovation among aircraft makers. Cessna, Piper and Cirrus all made light sports, then discontinued them. Profit margins were better on heavier, more luxurious aircraft.

That left the category mostly to inventors and small businesses that made planes for fun, said Dick Knapinski of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

And it left the skies open to flying cars.

A basic small car — the Toyota Corolla, for example — weighs 2,800 pounds. Strip out extra material to help it take flight, and it's not hard to meet FAA weight requirements, especially with a waiver.

Terrafugia's waiver shows a path for other flying car companies to get a federal go-ahead. Between roadworthiness and airworthiness, experts say, approval in the latter is much more difficult to attain.

In other words, it's easier to make a street-legal airplane than an air-legal car.

The Transition, and models from other companies looking to utilize the light sport classification, have the footprint of a large pickup truck. They have side-view and rear-view mirrors or display screens that eliminate blind spots caused by folding wings.

Terrafugia designed the vehicle so those with basic drivers licenses can use it on roadways, pending the approval of federal auto regulators.

They're part of a camp in the flying car industry that sees their machines taking off and landing on a runway, like a conventional airplane, then driving the "last mile" to a final destination. Others see the contraptions lifting off and landing vertically without the use of a runway.

Both can utilize the light sport category.

Slovakia-based Aeromobil also makes a flying-car-type vehicle that uses a runway. "We're trying to type-approve it as a plane and one that is recognizable as a plane, then we'll try to approve it as a car," said Douglas MacAndrew, Aeromobil's chief technical officer. "Those things are certainly technical challenges, but they're not legislative roadblocks as of now."

Source: Flying cars: soaring toward reality?

Dezso Molnar interview Part 5: Introducing the world's first flying car race series

In the final part of our five-part interview with serial inventor and flying car advocate Dezso Molnar, he introduces his newest venture: a race series. With more than 100 flying cars on the road and in the air worldwide, Molnar believes the fastest way to take this technology to the next level is to get a community of inventors and aviators together and put their vehicles to the test in a competition on the West Coast of the United States. There'll be categories for radio controlled, electric and unlimited flying cars, so there's room for the full spectrum of innovators.

This week, Molnar has unveiled flyingcarracing.com, a site that brings together the 22 teams that have been invited to participate in the inaugural race in 2017. What follows is Dezso's own words, describing his vision for the event.

On who should get into flying car racing

Racing budgets are massive. People respect racing, and the people that go there – birds of a feather meet at these races. The kinds of people you want to spend your time with if you're a developer. There's value in racing in that it creates a community around these machines and objectives.

The success of Dean Kamen's FIRST project to me is inspiring, in that it has given a lot of kids at a high school level the ability to take their talents for machinery and their fascination, and create a competitive group that lets them work together, meet people from other schools and other nations, and go to these robotics competitions. Dean's best quote is "It's the only sport where every player can turn pro." I'd like to create a similar environment for people out of high school, at the college level or young pros, who are done with school but still want to have that community. There's a FIRST, but currently there's no second.

Flying car racing's for them, because bolting together an aircraft with an electric motor is no big challenge for anybody who has built a FIRST robot with all its control systems. If you compare the Street Wing to Van's aircraft, the Van's planes use gas engines and a thousand more parts than an electric plane, so electrics are much easier to build. Van's has almost 9,000 aluminium planes flying – there's a very robust kit culture for people that want to build their own aircraft parts, and there's a group called the Experimental Aircraft Association which is a strong advocate for them.

What does a flying car race look like?

In the near term, it's a race to fly and drive from El Mirage Dry Lake bed in California, North-East to the El Dorado Drone Port, which is an airport being constructed near Boulder City, Nevada.

It's a 200-mile (322-km) course through the desert, the classic Route 66 on the ground, and there's Class G airspace and about 15 airports in between. So if somebody has an ultralight aircraft, and it's a flying car, they will be able to fly their aircraft over completely unpopulated areas and compete between those two spots.

With some of the vehicles that exist today, the owners are not licensed pilots so they can only operate under part 103 or the ultralight class, and fly under ultralight conditions. Some of the vehicles haven't passed a smog check, I think the AeroMobil is one of them, so they're not actually street legal.

Those vehicles will be able to do some drive activities on the lake beds. There's another dry lake bed on the receiving side near Boulder City where we'll be able to drive. At El Mirage, we can drive at unlimited speeds. So if somebody has a flying car that goes 300 mph on the ground, that's not a problem, we'll be able to do that at El Mirage. It's federally allocated for driving at those speeds if you want. Once on the street, we drive the speed limit.

We'll try to help out these guys based on the capabilities of their aircraft. What we'll probably do is, let's say we drive 50 miles and then we take off from an airport and fly for 20 miles, and then we drive for another 30 and then we fly to the final airport, or whatever.

So what we'll do is split up the trip, there's a lot of airports in between, Jean is one, Banning is another that's en route. So we'll see who wants to race and what their capabilities are, and set up a course that allows them to compete, and drive the development so their vehicles get better at a safe environment.

We don't want to put pilots and machines at risk, we want to promote them.

The transition from fly to drive will be exactly the same as when a Formula One race car needs tires, exactly the same as when an Indy race car needs gas. There's a mechanical activity called the pit stop. And the pit stops are a make or break situation for the race. So the pit stops get faster and faster. I would like to see the same things happen for flying cars so their pit stops get quicker and quicker.

The objective is not to require every mechanical event automated out of the box and have another failure mode where you try to do everything at once for everybody. The idea is to embrace the idea of a pit stop, and make that part of the show. Everyone likes to see the pits. If you go to an F1 race, where do people want to be? They wanna be in the pits. That's where the excitement is.

Unmanned, Electric and Unlimited categories

The other thing that's really important, I'm setting it up with three categories of aircraft. The first one is unmanned, so people that have radio controlled flying cars can compete. Some exist today for purchase. I see quadcopters as gateway drugs for people who really just want an F16. There's already an enormous amount of drone racing happening, so I want to provide them with a venue. They will design new drones that fly and drive, and will get to race and see these other manned aircraft. So that's the unmanned "Radio Controlled" division.

"Electric" division requires an electric final drive. And the objective is to promote lightweight vehicles that don't require any fossil fuel, so you'll be able to drive and fly around for the rest of your life without buying gas.

That division will likely have a weight restriction of 150 kg (331 lb). I'm expecting all one-seat machines and many of them purpose built.

The third and final is the "Unlimited" category, and for that we embrace all comers. Somebody can show up with a Pitcairn AC35, Larry Page could bring the Zee Aero, Terrafugia can race their Transition, Joe Caravella can bring his machine, and I will race Gyrocycles. Everybody will be able to bring any machine they have that works, and historically there's a lot of them. I'd like to see some vehicles in museums sparked back to life or completed! An installed base of vehicles competing on a fixed course is what created NASCAR.

On the viability of a flying car race

So that's it. Flying car racing has three divisions. Radio Controlled, Electric, and Unlimited. There's 100 good aircraft already existing, which is a lot more than the X-Prize, which only saw one competitor fly. They claimed there were 27 teams, but I haven't seen 26 of those teams fly anyone to space since the X-Prize was announced by the eventual winner 20 years ago. With Rocket Racing League, we had three airplanes, but they never actually raced against each other because we never selected a reliable engine.

Flying car racing is a thousand times more viable than those projects, or the land speed racing teams which come around every 15 or 20 years when somebody wants to do a very expensive, very dangerous thing. I see flying car racing as an extremely high probability spectacle with far-reaching social benefit. Amory Lovins of Rocky Mountain Institute for years has suggested that the key way to make cars more efficient is to reduce their weight. I agree with that, and what has happened in the last 50 years?? The same Ford Mustang gets released every year!!

The only way to make cars lighter is to either require the driver to pedal them, or to make them fly. You will not be able to prescribe light cars to people, you must make them desirable. It's the only way to evolve ourselves from 2 percent efficient vehicles that need roads expanded, destroy the air, and crush puppy dogs every day.

I've been quiet about it, but I've spoken to a few owners and they're very responsive. I already have a couple vehicles lined up. It's hard for them to continue doing their development without a fair amount of support. I think they feel racing will help with that, and it could do them a big benefit. I'm really about giving them credit for the work they've already done and shining a spotlight of appreciation. These are gutsy inventors that have made machines that already work.

It's a way to embrace their efforts, rather than obsess about their lack of market saturation.

A big thanks to Dezso for his time and assistance on this series. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to hang out with him, meet his remarkable friends and check out some of his projects and workspaces first hand. For more information on the race series, check out the Flying Car Racing website.

Other articles in this series:

Part 1: On the road with a serial inventor and flying car advocate

Part 2: A new way of thinking about flying cars

Part 3: My favourite (and least favourite) existing flying cars

Part 4: My two current flying car projects

Source: Dezso Molnar interview Part 5: Introducing the world's first flying car race series

FAA LSA Waiver Clears Way For Transition Flying Car

The benefit of automotive safety features in general aviation have persuaded the FAA to grant Terrafugia a waiver of weight and stall-speed limits so it can self-certify its Transition flying car as a light sport aircraft ...

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Source: FAA LSA Waiver Clears Way For Transition Flying Car

Flying cars just took a big step closer to being legal

It looks like a goofy mosquito, its fat cockpit shoving through the wind while aloft, its wings folded up like a dragonfly while grounded. And it marks the biggest step toward a real, commercial flying car.

The Terrafugia Transition earned an exemption Sunday from the Federal Aviation Administration as a "light sport aircraft," meaning the federal government is on track to legalize the first flying car.

After a few more rounds of audits and paperwork, the Transition, a two-seated flying thingamajig, can take to the skies under the command of sport pilots, a low-threshold classification. Terrafugia can also commercially produce the aircraft without repeated burdensome federal airworthiness tests.

Flying car industry executives say their products should enter the consumer market -- albeit at a high price -- in the next decade.

[We were promised jetpacks and flying cars, and all we got was this lousy chart]

But all that depends on clearing regulatory hurdles both as automobiles and flying machines.

"We've worked with the FAA, and you're going to have your bureaucrats and people who don't want anything to change, but other people can see the future," said Paul Moller, president and chief executive of aviation firm Moller International.

Light sport aircrafts should weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, seat two people, have non-retractable landing gear and strict speed limitations.

The Transition gained exceptions to be heavier, caused by federal automobile safety requirements, and to exceed the speed limits, because a heavier airplane has to fly faster.

Pilots can operate the aircraft with a "sport" license, which requires 20 hours of lessons.

The light sport classification was created in 2004 to allow airplane makers to design personal aircraft without the intense regulation required for larger flying machines. Bringing a new model aircraft to market in heavier "general aviation" classifications costs at least $50 million, said Carl Dietrich, Terrafugia's co-founder, chief executive and chief technology officer.

[Why the dream of the flying car hasn't panned out]

In the beginning, light sport classification did spur innovation among aircraft makers. Cessna, Piper and Cirrus all made light sports, then discontinued them. Profit margins were better on heavier, more luxurious aircraft.

That left the category mostly to inventors and small businesses that made planes for fun, said Dick Knapinski of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

And it left the skies open to flying cars.

A basic small car -- the Toyota Corolla, for example -- weighs 2,800 pounds. Strip out extra material to help it take flight, and it's not hard to meet FAA weight requirements, especially with a waiver.

Terrafugia's waiver shows a path for other flying car companies to get a federal go-ahead. Between roadworthiness and airworthiness, experts say, approval in the latter is much more difficult to attain.

In other words, it's easier to make a street-legal airplane than an air-legal car.

The Transition, and models from other companies looking to utilize the light sport classification, have the footprint of a large pickup truck. They have side-view and rear-view mirrors or display screens that eliminate blind spots caused by folding wings.

[Flying cars are coming, but they aren't quite the ones we've dreamed about.]

Terrafugia designed the vehicle so those with basic drivers licenses can use it on roadways, pending the approval of federal auto regulators.

They're part of a camp in the flying car industry that sees their machines taking off and landing on a runway, like a conventional airplane, then driving the "last mile" to a final destination. Others see the contraptions lifting off and landing vertically without the use of a runway.

Both can utilize the light sport category.

Slovakia-based Aeromobil also makes a flying-car-type vehicle that uses a runway. "We're trying to type-approve it as a plane and one that is recognizable as a plane, then we'll try to approve it as a car," said Douglas MacAndrew, Aeromobil's chief technical officer. "Those things are certainly technical challenges, but they're not legislative roadblocks as of now."

Read More:

Flying cars: Are they coming? Yes. Do we need them? No.

Watch this flying car cruise around the skies of Slovakia

What is the Opposite of a Flying Car?

Source: Flying cars just took a big step closer to being legal

FAA blessing puts flying car on track for consumer sales in the next decade

The Terrafugia Transition received an exemption from the Federal Avia tion Administration.

Provided by Terrafugia

It looks like a goofy mosquito, its fat cockpit shoving through the wind while aloft, its wings folded up like a dragonfly while grounded. And it marks the biggest step toward a real, commercial flying car.

The Terrafugia Transition earned an exemption Sunday from the Federal Aviation Administration as a "light sport aircraft," meaning the federal government is on track to legalize the first flying car.

After a few more rounds of audits and paperwork, the Transition, a two-seated flying thingamajig, can take to the skies under the command of sport pilots, a low-threshold classification. Terrafugia can also commercially produce the aircraft without repeated burdensome federal airworthiness tests.

Flying-car industry executives say their products should enter the consumer market — albeit at a high price — in the next decade.

But all that depends on clearing regulatory hurdles both as automobiles and flying machines.

"We've worked with the FAA, and you're going to have your bureaucrats and people who don't want anything to change, but other people can see the future," said Paul Moller, president and chief executive of aviation firm Moller International.

Light sport aircraft should weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, seat two people, have non-retractable landing gear and strict speed limitations.

The Transition gained exceptions to be heavier, caused by federal automobile safety requirements, and to exceed the speed limits, because a heavier airplane has to fly faster.

Pilots can operate the aircraft with a "sport" license, which requires 20 hours of lessons.

The light sport classification was created in 2004 to allow airplane makers to design personal aircraft without the intense regulation required for larger flying machines. Bringing a new model aircraft to market in heavier "general aviation" classifications costs at least $50 million, said Carl Dietrich, Terrafugia's co-founder, chief executive and chief technology officer.

In the beginning, light sport classification did spur innovation among aircraft makers. Cessna, Piper and Cirrus all made light sports, then discontinued them. Profit margins were better on heavier, more luxurious aircraft.

That left the category mostly to inventors and small businesses that made planes for fun, said Dick Knapinski of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

And it left the skies open to flying cars.

A basic small car — the Toyota Corolla, for example — weighs 2,800 pounds. Strip out extra material to help it take flight, and it's not hard to meet FAA weight requirements, especially with a waiver.

Terrafugia's waiver shows a path for other flying car companies to get a federal go-ahead. Between roadworthiness and airworthiness, experts say, approval in the latter is much more difficult to attain.

In other words, it's easier to make a street-legal airplane than an air-legal car.

The Transition, and models from other companies looking to utilize the light sport classification, have the footprint of a large pickup truck. They have side-view and rear-view mirrors or display screens that eliminate blind spots caused by folding wings.

Terrafugia designed the vehicle so those with basic drivers licenses can use it on roadways, pending the approval of federal auto regulators.

They're part of a camp in the flying car industry that sees their machines taking off and landing on a runway, like a conventional airplane, then driving the "last mile" to a final destination. Others see the contraptions lifting off and landing vertically without the use of a runway.

Both can utilize the light sport category.

Slovakia-based Aeromobil also makes a flying-car-type vehicle that uses a runway. "We're trying to type-approve it as a plane and one that is recognizable as a plane, then we'll try to approve it as a car," said Douglas MacAndrew, Aeromobil's chief technical officer. "Those things are certainly technical challenges, but they're not legislative roadblocks as of now."

Source: FAA blessing puts flying car on track for consumer sales in the next decade

Will We Ever Really Get Flying Cars?

If you listen to some entrepreneurs and investors, the flying car – a longstanding staple of science fiction – is right around the corner. Working prototypes exist. At least two companies already take orders for the vehicles, with deliveries promised next year.

The last decade has seen the introduction of practical consumer videoconferencing, voice recognition, drones, self-driving cars and many other items that once were found only in science fiction stories. It therefore might seem plausible that practical flying cars are around the corner. They aren't. Indeed, massive safety, infrastructure and technology problems make them a near impossibility.

The first concern is safety. While flying a commercial airline is always safer than driving oneself the same distance, it's an entirely different story if one looks at per-trip fatality rates. The Department of Transportation estimates that Americans take about 350 billion car trips per-year and experience about 30,000 fatal ac cidents; roughly one fatal accident per 11 million trips. By contrast, there are roughly 35 million scheduled air flights around the world each year. Over the past decade, the number of commercial aviation incidents that have proved fatal has averaged 17 annually. This means about one of every 2 million commercial air flights ends in death.

We see these fatalities every year, despite pilots' years of intense training, planes' extensive safety equipment requirements, regular maintenance checks and airlines' need to maintain sterling reputations for safety. All of these provide far more safeguards than anything that applies to cars on the road.

It's true that there are some factors that might make flying cars safer than commercial jetliners. They would travel at lower speeds and lower altitudes, for instance. But there's no practical way to subject them to the same safety and training standards imposed on commercial airplanes if they are to become anything like a consumer product. Indeed, the per-trip fatality rates for private planes already is very likely higher than commercial airliners, but there are no worldwide statistics available. Safety advocates would make a plausible case for banning flying cars on these grounds alone.

Even if one thinks these risks are acceptable—and they probably are, given the potential advantages of flying cars—that doesn't solve the even greater infrastructure or technological problems. The current working models of flying cars need runways to take off and land. Bringing them into regular use would require runways just about everywhere, without obviating the need for parking lots. The world's busiest airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, accommodates slightly less than 2,500 aircraft movements each day on its five runways and 4,700 acres. Any sizable office building would need its own version of Hartsfield-Jackson if people were to commute to work via their flying cars. The space to build facilities this si ze for flying cars simply doesn't exist anywhere near any city of any size.

New technologies could theoretically obviate the need for runways. One Japanese team has shown off a modified lightweight drone supposedly capable of vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter. But making these vehicles practical would require breakthroughs that appear to be decades away. Existing helicopters and military "jump jets" still require a significant amount of space to land, are even noisier than commercial jets and drink huge amounts of fuel. As such, they're not really used for travel. Commercially produced helicopters have existed since the 1940s and aren't currently used for scheduled commercial service anywhere in the United States. Technological breakthroughs could eventually solve these problems, but it's unlikely that a few years of flying-car development will overcome problems that have bedeviled helicopter designers for more than seven decades.

While the promised 2017 del iveries of working flying cars seem unlikely, it's far from impossible that a commercially produced civilian airplane with the kinds of retractable wings and safety equipment that would allow it to be driven on highways might make it to market within the next decade. But widely available flying cars, more likely than not, will remain clearly in the realm of science fiction.

Source: Will We Ever Really Get Flying Cars?

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© The Gaminators! Studio 2016

Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Source: Flying Tank Flight Simulator Pro

Will We Ever Really Get Flying Cars?

If you listen to some entrepreneurs and investors, the flying car – a longstanding staple of science fiction – is right around the corner. Working prototypes exist. At least two companies already take orders for the vehicles, with deliveries promised next year.

The last decade has seen the introduction of practical consumer videoconferencing, voice recognition, drones, self-driving cars and many other items that once were found only in science fiction stories. It therefore might seem plausible that practical flying cars are around the corner. They aren't. Indeed, massive safety, infrastructure and technology problems make them a near impossibility.

The first concern is safety. While flying a commercial airline is always safer than driving oneself the same distance, it's an entirely different story if one looks at per-trip fatality rates. The Department of Transportation estimates that Americans take about 350 billion car trips per-year and experience about 30,000 fatal ac cidents; roughly one fatal accident per 11 million trips. By contrast, there are roughly 35 million scheduled air flights around the world each year. Over the past decade, the number of commercial aviation incidents that have proved fatal has averaged 17 annually. This means about one of every 2 million commercial air flights ends in death.

We see these fatalities every year, despite pilots' years of intense training, planes' extensive safety equipment requirements, regular maintenance checks and airlines' need to maintain sterling reputations for safety. All of these provide far more safeguards than anything that applies to cars on the road.

It's true that there are some factors that might make flying cars safer than commercial jetliners. They would travel at lower speeds and lower altitudes, for instance. But there's no practical way to subject them to the same safety and training standards imposed on commercial airplanes if they are to become anything like a consumer product. Indeed, the per-trip fatality rates for private planes already is very likely higher than commercial airliners, but there are no worldwide statistics available. Safety advocates would make a plausible case for banning flying cars on these grounds alone.

Even if one thinks these risks are acceptable—and they probably are, given the potential advantages of flying cars—that doesn't solve the even greater infrastructure or technological problems. The current working models of flying cars need runways to take off and land. Bringing them into regular use would require runways just about everywhere, without obviating the need for parking lots. The world's busiest airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, accommodates slightly less than 2,500 aircraft movements each day on its five runways and 4,700 acres. Any sizable office building would need its own version of Hartsfield-Jackson if people were to commute to work via their flying cars. The space to build facilities this si ze for flying cars simply doesn't exist anywhere near any city of any size.

New technologies could theoretically obviate the need for runways. One Japanese team has shown off a modified lightweight drone supposedly capable of vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter. But making these vehicles practical would require breakthroughs that appear to be decades away. Existing helicopters and military "jump jets" still require a significant amount of space to land, are even noisier than commercial jets and drink huge amounts of fuel. As such, they're not really used for travel. Commercially produced helicopters have existed since the 1940s and aren't currently used for scheduled commercial service anywhere in the United States. Technological breakthroughs could eventually solve these problems, but it's unlikely that a few years of flying-car development will overcome problems that have bedeviled helicopter designers for more than seven decades.

While the promised 2017 del iveries of working flying cars seem unlikely, it's far from impossible that a commercially produced civilian airplane with the kinds of retractable wings and safety equipment that would allow it to be driven on highways might make it to market within the next decade. But widely available flying cars, more likely than not, will remain clearly in the realm of science fiction.

Source: Will We Ever Really Get Flying Cars?

Paul Ryan’s anti-poverty plan, flying cars

Ceasefire: The United States is warning Russia and Syria to respect a fragile ceasefire. 

Hackers: Russia has launched an offensive against the computer network of the DNC.

Alligator: More heartache in Orlando after the body of a boy snatched by an alligator was found.

Terrorism: The city of Orlando continues to mourn its losses from the horrific terror attack.

IRS: The IRS can no longer require names of donors to nonprofit groups.

Prisoners: China is accusing the U.S. Congress of groundless accusations.

Source: Paul Ryan's anti-poverty plan, flying cars

The Biggest Problem With Flying Cars Is the Pilots

The key to making effective flying cars is eliminating the need for a human pilot, according to Nathan Myhrvold, the co-founder and chief executive of Intellectual Ventures. 

"The problem with flying cars is that we're not all good enough to fly them," he said at a session at Bloomberg's 2016 Technology Conference in San Francisco. "The leading cause of plane crashes is pilot error." 

Nathan Myhrvold.

Photographer: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for the New York Times

Flying cars have been a long-time fantasy of the nerd set. The topic has gathered steam in the last week, since Ashlee Vance and Brad Stone reported in Bloomberg Businessweek that Google co-founder Larry Page has been secretly investing in flying car startups. The vehicles these companies are making are based on the idea that they will be able to fly themselves. 

Making a self-flying car is easier than making a self-driving car, according to Myhrvold. "Even a little quad-copter does great," he said. Earlier this year, DJI, one of the leading manufacturers of drones for hobbyists, introduced a quadcopter that uses two optical sensors and an on-board computer to avoid obstacles while flying at speeds up to 22 miles per hour. While many planes also have some auto-pilot modes, Myhrvold said that the conservatism of the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration has held the technology  back. 

Myhrvold, who was previously chief technology officer at Microsoft and held other positions at the company for more than a decade,  also spoke about the process of invention practices at Intellectual Ventures. During brainstorming sessions he, Bill Gates, and others get together to try and come up with inventions on broad topics like "Climate" or "Energy." As the days wear on, the ideas get increasingly loopy, he said. But that's the point. No one at the sessions has a fully realized idea, instead they each come with a piece of the overall puzzle, and the main objective is to think about things in new ways.

Myhrvold predicts that the breakthroughs in the next five years that will have the most profound long-term impacts will come in the field of synthetic biology, a discipline that combines biology, computer programming, and genetic engineering. The real-world impacts of these discoveries are unlikely to come until farther in the future, he added. 

After making his fortune at Microsoft, Myhrvold has become something of a notorious figure in tech circles. He founded Intellectual Ventures in 2000 with the idea of amassing patents and asking companies using the technologies to pay to license them. Those that refused would be taken to court. This turned Myhrvold into a symbol of one of Silicon Valley's most hated archetypes: the patent troll.

Even those who aren't inclined to compare Intellectual Ventures to the mafia or a parasite have begun to question whether its original business model even works. It has become decidedly more difficult to make money suing people for violating patents, largely due to policy changes pushed by the kinds of companies Intellectual Ventures was asking for money from. The company has laid off a significant portion of its workforce in recent years and increasingly emphasized bringing its own inventions to market. 

Myhrvold has also pursued a range of eclectic personal projects. He recently challenged NASA's methods for tracking asteroids, setting off a minor controversy. In the last few years he has  published both a scientific paper arguing that that leading paleontologists made serious errors in their research about how dinosaurs grow, and a five-volume, 2,400 page cookbook on the "art and science of cooking." The sequel, which will focus on making bread, is due out in March. 

"I do a crazy set of stuff," he said. 

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE
Source: The Biggest Problem With Flying Cars Is the Pilots

A Google Co-Founder Is Secretly Building Flying Cars

Google co-founder Larry Page has been secretly bankrolling companies working on flying cars, according to a new report.

Page, now CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, has contributed over $100 million on secretive personal aviation startup Zee. Aero, Bloomberg reports. He has separately funded another similar startup, called Kitty Hawk, an apparent reference to the site of the Wright brothers' first flight.

Page did not return Bloomberg's requests for comment. Google did not immediately return TIME's request for comment.

Flying cars have been little more than a dream for decades. While several companies have gotten close to bringing models to market, costs and regulatory hurdles have proved insurmountable hurdles. Personal aircraft that could, say, take off from an owner's driveway might sound cool, but in practice the idea has so far proven impractical.

Increasingly sophisticated automation systems may help by reducing the amount of training time needed on the part of new pilots, though those systems give rise to safety questions of their own, Times reports.

Source: A Google Co-Founder Is Secretly Building Flying Cars

Google co-founder invests in flying car technology, website says

GOOGLE-ENCRYPT

The sculpture of a Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system mascot sits inside the Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Feb. 18, 2016. (Bloomberg photo by Michael Short) (Michael Short)

Technology titans such as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos have a habit of using their personal fortune on their passions, and Google co-founder Larry Page is no exception given his investment into flying cars, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Bloomberg reports that Page personally funded Zee.Aero, a company working on a small, electric plane that could take off and land vertically. The blend of driverless car tech and other technical advances has convinced many wealthy people that flying vehicles will be available in the next decade.

"Self-flying aircraft is so much easier than what the auto companies are trying to do with self-driving cars," Mark Moore, an aeronautical engineer who designs advanced aircraft at NASA, told the website. Page is among the few tech titans quietly funding companies researching the flying car tech.

Read Bloomberg's full story.

Source: Google co-founder invests in flying car technology, website says

The Age of the High-Flying Tech (HFT) Gadgeteer Is Upon Us--Flying Machines & New Wheeled Things.

Put down your tablet--unless you're flying a gyrocopter or a "drone", or you're sailing on a fan or jet-powered hovercraft, or a two wheeled hoverboard...

And look up in the sky for new high-flying tech (HFT) or down the street to see a pack of kids coming, each on some one-wheeled thing--something new is upon us. Throw in robots, even ones that can gallop and run like a pissed-off bull, or the non-NASA rockets, launched into space and built by some new rich kids on the block, cars with no human drivers or wheeled things that can even climb walls--it is becoming clear that something is up.

For better or worse, we have entered the Age of the High-Flying Tech (HFT) Gadgeteer ... a new gang of inventors that stopped staring at screens and started building things.

Not since the skateboard (with the exception of the 'Segway') can I remember any serious challenge to the classical bicycle or motorcycle, but now there is a flock of many new wheeled-things-- or ones that are moving and got rid of the wheels, (but are still not 'anti-gravity').

And the definitions are blurring - drone, gyrocopter, hoverboard, jet packs, and radio controlled thing-a-ma-gigs are going to start changing our lives.

The bottom line is that people are leaving the comfort of sitting in front of screens, which dominated the last decade, and are now building things that move and fly--some even controlled by your cell phone.

I'll go through some of the drivers to this brave new wacky world, but let me introduce you to some of these new toys on the block--most of which are highlighted on YouTube where you can see them actually move.

Hoverboard got its name from the movie "Back to the Future, Part II", where Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox), is in a future where anti-gravity is tamed and he uses a futuristic 'skateboard' that floats.

Hoverboard with Two Wheels

The first type of hoverboards do not hover but have wheels and a place to stand. And someone figured out how to make them 'stable'. There are hundreds of brands world-wide and over the last Christmas season they were all the rage. This is the Mini-Segway Self-Balancing, 2-Wheel Hoverboard,

Another version that has been whizzing around my neighborhood are the one wheelers. This snapshot of a Google search on June 10th, 2016 shows that there are now a host of different configurations; some devices require you straddle one large wheel while others are two smaller contraptions--one on each foot--roller-skates on steroids. There's also a one-wheel-in-the-middle version resembling a more traditional looking skateboard.

Here's a review for the "Self Balancing ONE-Wheel Electric Scooter, Unicycles"

Hoverboards that Hover with Magnetism

The Lexus Hoverboard, however, 'hovers' and it is based on the science of magnets and super conductors; Lexus, that's right, the car company, even built a skateboard-like track to show it off. Notice the mist on the left side of the picture and some onlookers' hands between the board and the ground.

And similar to this is Hendo's hoverboard that also uses magnetism to 'float'. See skateboard guru Tony Hawke use it.

This trend of reinventing the power of magnets with computer controls is going to also bring lots of new products. Here's a levitating chess board or check out the CLM 2 Levitation Module

Hoverboards, Drones And Gyrocopters--Flying Machines.

However, the new kid on the block is a large green rectangle that uses fans and computer smarts. The Arcaboard, which we featured in the beginning, is for sale at a cool $14,900. Here are the guts of the board.

This hoverboard is a cross-over to the drone and the gyrocopter world.

In "Back to the Future II", "Doc" shows up driving an anti-gravity car that runs on garbage. Now, with the ability to have lightweight materials and the rotors of a drone, in 2016 - at the Consumer Electronics Show, the EHang 184 MegaDrone - "Worlds First Self Driving Taxi Car" caused a bit of a stir.

Small gyro-copters has been around for decades; one has only to remember the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" that featured "Little Nellie".

However, these are different. When we think of personal commuting vehicles, I doubt many thought of flying cars as a reality. However, with driverless cars, which have GPS, anti-collusion, and a host of other tricks like sonar and radar built in, there are a host of companies working on this, especially combined with HFT. While I personally have doubts about driverless vehicles, whether it's on a highway or a virtual sky-highway, as a rich play toy, expect to see these HFT personal vehicles in the air over the next five years.

2016: The Year of the Drone

And since we are in the air, let's talk drones.

This collection of drones was found in a Google search at the end of 2015. There are now thousands of companies building 'drones', with 4 rotors being common. There were even a number of them on sale this Christmas in the Century 21 department store in Brooklyn.

These are 'wireless controlled' devices, some actually can use your wireless phone. There are expensive ones that do very precise photography and military spy stuff, or the cheap ones that are more like an electronic kite - that you control.

But that's not what all this is about; expect to see personal 'selfie' cameras that fly, swarms of small drones that you control, large floating/flying advertising or war-gaming-drones where the drones are dressed as star-cruisers or the Star Wars Millennium Falcon.

Meanwhile, Amazon and others are working on using them to deliver packages.

But they will also be the eyes for a fireman going into a building--wanting to see what's in front, or drones that get to a fire first to see how bad it is; or police patrols where they can cover a lot more blocks - or...

However, coming full circle, the Disney Research "Vertigo" uses both wheels as well as a fan to climb walls or go over the ground.

And some will be controlled by your phone, some by a controller, some by a glove-like thing, or even thought control, which is a whole other issue.

A Few Technological Things seems to have Fallen into Place

First, computers and electronics have added 'stability'. The ability to have drone tech required the ability to coordinate the multiple rotors and the ability to be 'stable' in the air. I've been told this is because the drone tech had been designed by the military and has been seeping into designs for the public's use.

But stability is also what makes the magnetic levitation systems work as they keep the power of the magnets stable and controlled through computers.

Second, there has been a flood--- tens of thousands of people and companies, worldwide, throwing new additions into the mix. But it is the Internet, with hang outs like YouTube, where anywhere in the world some kid can explore what's out there currently... and what works and doesn't, and can order the components immediately, or get in touch with others working on these new-fangled gadgets, that is driving a collective group think.

And third, the component parts are getting lighter, the parts are getting cheaper, they are getting miniaturized, and more durable--and they are getting smarter with advances in computers and AI--artificial intelligence. This has been a path in tech for as long as tech existed, but sped up with the different component parts being readily available.

And I note that there is also 3-D printing, where the printers can fabricate parts based on plans sent anywhere in the world via the Internet.

Finally, this future will also be filled with law suits, new regulations and complaints about new regulations. In July 2015, William Merideth shot down a drone in his backyard in Kentucky and was cleared of all charges.

"It was a case that gripped the nation. Or at least Kentucky.

"Should it have temporarily escaped your pressured memory, William Merideth in July said he saw a drone flying above his property in Hillview, Kentucky.

"He believed it was spying on his 16-year-old daughter who was sunbathing in the garden. So he took out his shotgun and blasted the drone out of the sky. He was arrested for wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.

"Now a Kentucky court has declared Merideth an innocent man."

And while some of these products may never stick or be economically feasible as commercial products, one thing is clear - High-Flying Tech machines and new wheeled things are going to be in our future.

Here's a video of the "Flyboard", which looks more like an HFT from the movie Spiderman that was flown by the Green Goblin. The video shows a man and his jet powered flying machine setting a new record, documented by the Guinness Book of World Records, April, 2016.

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Source: The Age of the High-Flying Tech (HFT) Gadgeteer Is Upon Us--Flying Machines & New Wheeled Things.