There's a lot of excitement around flying cars right now — even if they are basically just giant drones. Whether piloted or autonomous, taxis or private vehicles, they've been hailed by futurists as the ideal way to reduce journey times across urban landscapes, thus easing city road congestion.
But despite the media hype (or perhaps because of it), there are reasons to be skeptical of this vision.
Big names including Uber, Airbus and Larry Page are taking a keen interest. Toyota wants to get its prototype ready for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. A group of startups including E-volo, Terrafugia, AeroMobil, Zee.Aero and Moller International have prototypes ready or in the pipeline.
As GTM reported recently, ChargePoint even says it's preparing to charge flying vehicles, and Dubai has announced a driverless flying taxi service using foldable, one-seater Ehang 184 drones. The service is set to take off next month.
Last month, Uber hosted the three-day Elevate Summit to accelerate "the future of on-demand urban air transportation." The ride-hailing company even produced a white paper last year on how to realize that vision.
The 97-page document addresses everything from battery requirements to pilot training, transport hub placement, safety, noise and sustainability. Uber concluded that batteries are not yet ready in terms of energy density, charging times and cycle life. It also says battery costs are way too high, but believes those will keep improving with economies of scale.
Source: green tech media
Featured Image: Tech Media
Source: Will flying cars be more of an issue than a solution??
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