'Bodies flying everywhere': Witnesses describe chaos as car hits pedestrians

A witness describes the scenes of injured pedestrians lying on the Melbourne city streets after a car struck pedestrians.

Witnesses have spoken of their horror at seeing pedestrians mowed down before their eyes at a busy CBD intersection at the beginning of peak hour in Melbourne, Australia.

One distressed woman carrying Christmas presents and wrapping paper could be seen crying as police escorted her into an unmarked police car.

A preschool-aged child is among the injured and has been taken to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital in a serious condition with head injuries.

A man is arrested after pedestrians were mowed down in the Melbourne CBD.

Up to 13 people have been taken to hospital, including three to The Alfred and three to the Royal Melbourne. Their injuries and condition are not yet known.

READ MORE:* SUV 'mowed everybody down' in Melbourne* Melbourne a tale of two cities

Police inspect the SUV that drove into the crowd.

Police have arrested the alleged driver, a 32-year-old with a history of mental health and drug issues. They do not believe the incident is terrorism-related.

A second man who was seen filming the crash, and who was found with knives in his bag, was also arrested, but police do not believe he was working with the alleged driver.

MAN STRUCK BY CAR WHILE ON PHONE TO WIFE

DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING: Pedestrians have been mowed down in Melbourne's CBD.

Rohit Kaul, 45, was on the phone to his wife Avi and crossing the intersection at Elizabeth St when he was mowed down by the car.

Ad Feedback

Kaul heard the loud noises down the line before her husband's phone cut out and she unsuccessfully tried calling him several times.

He sustained leg injuries and was helped by several pedestrians who had been walking in front of him and managed to return his wife's call.

A witness heard screams and thumps as people were hit.

He has been transferred to The Alfred hospital.

'PEOPLE ARE FLYING EVERYWHERE'

Sue, from Walker's Doughnuts in Elizabeth St, told radio station 3AW that she heard screams before she saw "people flying everywhere".

Witnesses say they saw the driver speed up on purpose before pedestrians were mowed down in Melbourne, Australia.

"We could hear this noise, as we looked left, we saw this white car, it just mowed everybody down," she said.

"People are flying everywhere. We heard thump, thump. People are running everywhere."

YOUNG MUM FLEES WITH HER TWO LITTLE GIRLS

Police arrest a man who was in the Suzuki Vitara that mowed down CBD pedestrians.

A young mother who was the scene with her young daughters told radio station 3AW they fled as the car ploughed into pedestrians.

"I didn't want the kids to see anything," she said. "We just ran.

"I wanted to get the girls out of there so we ran into the closest building."

FAMILIES, WOMEN WITH PRAMS CAUGHT IN CARNAGE

Chris Gath said he was standing at the 7-Eleven on the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth streets with a coffee in his hand when he heard screaming.

"I heard it first and then I turned around and saw lots of bodies on the floor. 

"I saw a car ploughing into many people and bodies flying everywhere."

Gath said that he saw between 60 to 100 people crossing the intersection when a car travelling at what he estimated was 70kmh head for the crowd. 

He marshalled a group of people including women with prams away from the intersection to safety.

"I was a bit worried about myself so I got lots of people to run with me, and got families out of the way.

"I didn't know what was coming or how organised it was whether it was a bomb... so I just freaked and ran.

"[The car] ran into the tram stop – there would've been so many people waiting for a tram there. I'm hoping this is an accident. I'm hoping this is an accident..."

'INSTEAD OF STOPPING AT THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS ... THE CAR JUST KEPT GOING'

One young woman sat outside of the station, shaking her head and crying, as she frantically smoked a cigarette. 

Her friend hovering nearby started to pace nervously around the building, her eyes red and bulging, claiming that her friend "had been hit". 

Another witness who did not want to be named, said he saw a car travelling at a speed that he believed to be above the limit for the area - "very fast, as fast as possible" - before it "crashed".

"Instead of stopping at the traffic lights ... the car just kept going. 

"The whole thing was like 10 seconds. It was really quick.

"I just stopped where I was, I looked, I thought it was dangerous ... I sent a message to my friends to tell them to avoid the street. I'm OK."

WITNESSES POUR INTO POLICE STATION

About 20 people entered the Melbourne West Police Station within half an hour of Victoria Police putting out a request for witnesses. 

Many were escorted into the building by police officers. Some wiped away tears, while others buried themselves in loved one's arms.

They held shopping bags and drink bottles – signs of a leisurely warm day in the city, turned upside down just days before Christmas.

Among them was Kat Edwards, who said she was at a tram stop near the intersection when she saw a scene that, well over an hour after it had occurred, was still bringing her to tears.

"I heard the car, I was at the tram stop on the street, and I heard loud noises. Obviously it was pretty scary." 

Edwards gave a statement to police. "I saw people lying on the ground who had obviously been hit by the car.

"I saw the driver, but I also saw a man lying at a tram stop so I decided to run towards that man and tend to him."

She said she was "in awe" of the fast response of emergency services. 

"I think it's amazing how quick people are to react to it, I think Melburnians are pretty strong and help anyone. I'm in awe of the emergency services. They did a great job."

'I SAW PEOPLE FLYING'

Lawyer James Unkles said that he was walking along Elizabeth St towards Flinders St Station on his way home from work when he saw an SUV flash across the intersection in front of him.

"I saw people flying," he said

Unkles said police were immediately at the scene and that paramedics and other emergency services quickly flocked to the area.

He said the incident was probably witnessed by hundreds of people and that he was still processing what had happened.

"I come down here five days a week. This is always a busy thoroughfare. People were everywhere," he said.

"There must have been 1000 people heading home at the end of the week.

"Thirty seconds earlier, it could have been me."

 - The Age

Source: 'Bodies flying everywhere': Witnesses describe chaos as car hits pedestrians

200 MPH Samson Switchblade Is The World's First Flying Sports Car

by Martin Bigg6,666 reads

But you'll need to assemble it yourself.

While some automakers are focusing on developing fully electric and self-driving cars, others are trying to turn the fantasy of flying cars into a reality in the not-too-distant future. Airbus and Italdesign have unveiled the flying Pop.Up concept, and Uber is planning to unleash a flying taxi service in Dallas and Dubai in 2020. Toyota has also placed an investment in Cartivator to create a flying car that will light up the Olympic torch in 2020. Now, Oregon-based company Samson Motors is joining the flying car bandwagon with the announcement of the Switchblade.

Due to take off in spring 2018, Samson is claiming that the Switchblade is the world's first flying sports car. Powering the two-seater, three-wheeled Samson Switchblade is a 190-hp, 1.6 liter V4 engine that drives a rear propeller. In the air, the Switchblade can cruise at an altitude of 13,000 feet and achieve a 200 mph top speed and 450-mile range. While in flight, it's 6.3 meters long and 8.2 meters wide, while retracting the tail and folding in the wings bring it down to 5.1 meters long and 1.8 meters wide for ground use. On the ground, the Switchblade can reach a top speed of over 100 mph while a five-speed transmission drives the wheels.

A full driving licence is required to operate the Switchblade on the roads and a private pilot's licence is required to fly it. Standard equipment includes a premium sound system with MP3 compatibility, a reversing camera, a digital instrument display and leather seats, while safety kit includes road-going roll-over protection and a vehicle parachute. The first public flight for the Switchblade is scheduled for next year before customer deliveries start before the end of 2018. It's expected to retail for $120,000, but there's a caveat – you have to build it yourself, unless you opt for Samson's building assist program for an extra $20,000.

Source: 200 MPH Samson Switchblade Is The World's First Flying Sports Car

'At least six dead and 77 injured' after new high-speed Amtrak train derails after it 'hit something' on its FIRST day of service sending rail cars flying onto the interstate below

An Amtrak train derailed near DuPont, Washington around 7:40am Monday, killing at least six and injuring 77

Seventy-eight passengers were on board, in addition to five crew members 

The train derailed while crossing a bridge over Interstate 5, causing one car to crash onto the freeway below 

Five cars and two semi-trucks were struck by the falling car, but no motorists were killed

It was the first day of a new high-speed service linking Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon

A local mayor voiced his fear about the new train causing a deadly accident earlier this month 

An anonymous official said it appears the train may have struck something right before the derailment 

The NTSB is sending a 20-person team to DuPont to investigate the derailment 

Records show that the train was going 81 mph before it derailed, when it was supposed to only be going 79 

The president of Amtrak said the train was not equipped with positive train control, which automatically slows a train if it's going too fast  

President Trump blamed the crash on 'crumbling infrastructure' in a tweet 

By Reuters and Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 11:17 EST, 18 December 2017 | Updated: 17:07 EST, 18 December 2017

e-mail

1.6k

View comments

An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least six people, authorities said. The death toll was expected to rise.

Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at more than 80 mph derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle on a route that had raised safety concerns.

An official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that preliminary signs indicate that Train 501 may have struck something before going off the track. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said thirteen of the train's fourteen cars derailed. One of them crashed onto freeway below, hitting five cars and two sem i-trucks. Multiple motorists were injured, but none killed. Police have not given an official death count, but the Seattle Times says it's at least six.

Seventy-seven people have been hospitalized, with hospital officials saying at least two people are in critical condition and 11 are seriously injured. 

Scroll down for video 

An Amtrak train derailed near DuPont, Washington around 7:40am Monday - causing multiple injuries and fatalities 

The train derailed while crossing a bridge over Interstate 5, causing at least one car to crash onto the freeway below

Thirteen of the 14 cars on the train derailed in the early Monday morning incident 

In addition to the six fatalities, seventy-seven people were injured - including both passengers and motorists  

The train set off from Seattle at 6am and planned to get into Portland, Oregon a little more than three hours later

The derailment happened near the town of DuPont, Washington, on an updated set of train line 

Monday was the first day of the updated Cascade Line service between Seattle and Portland  

Above, an aerial views of the crash site above. One car fell on to the highway on the right side of the track, while others derailed into the woods on the other side 

The train was headed south towards Portland, Oregon at the time of the derailment. Passengers are seen disembarking the derailed train 

Seventy-eight passengers were on board at the time, in addition to five crew. The train can fit around 250 people

The solid route is the updated line that opened Monday. Because it's str aighter than the old Puget Sound route, trains could go faster 

Train 501 was going south to Portland, Oregon when it derailed while crossing a bridge over Interstate 5 near DuPont, Washington around 7:40am Pacific Time, causing at least one car to fall onto the freeway below.

The train was making the inaugural run on the new Cascade route as part of a $180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that's bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.

The Amtrak schedule called for the train to leave Seattle around 6am and arrive in Portland about 3 1/2 hours later.

The new route includes a bypass built on an existing inland rail line that runs along Interstate 5 from Tacoma to DuPont, near where Train 501 derailed. Track testing was completed in January and February in advance of Monday's launch, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The possibility that the wreck was caused by something on the tracks fed into concerns voiced by local officials about the risk of high-speed trains crossing busy streets. The mayor of a town near the derailment had warned about the danger of an accident at a public meeting only two weeks ago. 

DESPERATE EMERGENCY CALL FROM CREW OF AMTRAK TRAIN 

The call made by a member of the crew of the Amtrak train in the seconds after the deadly crash has been released.

The call is believed to have been made by the engineer.

CREW OF TRAIN: 'Amtrak 501 emergency, emergency, emergency... we are on the ground (inaudible) We are on the bridge (inaudible) ...on the freeway.'

'We need EMS ASAP. Looks like they are alrea dy starting to show up.

OPERATOR: 'Hey guys what happened?'

CREW OF TRAIN: 'We were coming round the corner to take the bridge on the I5 and right there on the Nissqually we were on the ground.'

OPERATOR: 'Are you... is everybody okay?'

CREW OF TRAIN: 'I am still figuring that out... we've got cars everywhere and down onto the highway.'

Right before the bridge, there is a sizable curve in the track and the train.  The train was going 81.1 mph moments before the derailment, according to transitdocs.com, a website that maps Amtrak train locations and speeds using data from the railroad's train tracker app.

The maximum speed along the stretch of track, known as Point Defiance Bypass, is 79 mph, according to information about the project posted online by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The president of Amtrak revealed at an afternoon press conference that the new train was not equipped with positive train control, a mechanism that automatically slows the train if it starts going too fast. This is despite the fact that the technology was supposed to be added to the trains as part of the revamp.

Local officials were wary abo ut the new line, voicing their concerns about the high-speed trains going through curves at top speed at a meeting earlier this month.  

The mayor of Lakewood, Washington, a city along the new route, predicted a deadly crash — but one involving a fast-moving train hitting a car or pedestrian at a grade-crossing. At a recent public meeting, he called on state planners to build overpass-like rail structures instead of having trains cross busy streets.

'Come back when there is that accident and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements,' Anderson said, according to Seattle television station KOMO. 'Or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens.'

Two semi-trucks were damaged when one of the train cars fell onto the freeway below 

Five cars were damaged when the train car fell onto the freeway - but no motorist was killed 

A worker walks the tracks at the scene of a Amtrak train derailment on December 18, 2017 in DuPont, Washington

All southbound lands on I-5 have been shut down while local officials investigate 

A train car's wheels are seen detached from the car on Interstate 5  

Firefighters are seen looking for more survivors on Monday 

A look at some of the tools firefighters brought to free survivors on the train 

It's still unclear what caused the train to derail Monday morning. The NTSB will be investigating 

The train was traveling on an updated set of tracks that run between Tacoma and DuPont, Washington 

The NTSB will be looking to get the black box fro the train, which will tell how fast the train was traveling when it derailed 

No motorists were killed in the derailment, despite the fact that a car fell on the road below 

The NTSB is sending a 20 person team to investigate the derailment. Board member Bella Dinh-Zarr addresses reporters about the derailment at a press conference in Washington, DC on Monday 

FIRST DAY OF $181MILLION HIGH-SPEED RAIL PROJECT 

A look at the new locomotives for the Cascade line 

Today was the first day of the new multi-million Amtrak Cascades train service daily along the Portland-Seattle corridor.

The more direct r oute diverged from the shared track which operated with freight trains.

The project was known as the Point Defiance Bypass.

Avoiding a more scene route along the area's iconic Puget Sound, the new high speed line is designed to take 10 minutes off the travel time and travel at up to 80mph.

Amtrak issued a press released last week to say that using this route would allow for two more daily round-trips between Seattle and Portland.

It would also help trains avoid traveling around tight corners and tunnels.

The Amtrak/Cascade trains are pulled by a state-of-the art locomotive known as a 'Charger'.

Weighing 42,000 pounds and able to produce 4,400-horsepower they new, quieter and faster engines have been testing for the last month.

They are equipped with positi ve train control systems which automatically stop trains when troubled is detected. However, these are not due to be activate till 2018.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said that at the moment it has no theories as to what caused the derailment.

The NTSB will be investigating the cause of the crash, but most won't be on the scene for several hours because they're flying commercial. The 20-person go team's  flight is scheduled for 6:55pm and its a five-hour flight.

When they finally get to the scene, the investigators will obtain the black box which will show how fast the train was going when it derailed and whether the engineer braked when they needed to. They will also look at the condition of the tracks and question the train crew.

Mary Schiavo, a transportation analyst for CNN, hinted that the curve in the road might be to blame f or the derailment.

'This train was about to enter or was entering a curve and while they had to modify the tracks and test the tracks - and all of this work was done at the beginning of December - local officials in Washington were highly critical of sending a train at this speed through his area...they specifically warned that it needed to slow down at the curves in the track.

'I always like to say, whether its a train crash or a plane crash, the laws of physics are the only laws you can't break. And while they tested it...testing as opposed to running a full-sized, fully-loaded train over the track changes the physics. It changes the dynamics of the forces that you have in that curve.

'It's like racing a motorcycle. As you approached that curve, the centrifugal forces on the train change dramatically and I bet the NTSB is gonna pay a lot of attention to the topography and whether the train was entering a curve,' Schiavo said.

Audio has been released of the engineer talking to emergency dispatchers immediately after the crash.  

'Amtrak 501 emergency, emergency, emergency, we are on the ground!' the engineer is heard saying. 

'Need EMS ASAP. It looks like they are already starting to show up,' the engineer continues. 

'He guys, what happened?' a dispatcher asks. 

'We were coming around the corner to take the bridge over 1-5 there right north of Nisqually and we went on the ground,' the engineer responds. 

'Ok, is everybody ok?' the dispatcher asks.  

'I'm still figuring that out,' the engineer responds. 'We've got cars everywhere and down onto the highway.' 

Passenger Chris Karnes was on his wa y to do some Christmas shipping with his boyfriend with the derailment happened. 

He told KIRO that he was on the third for fourth car, and said the emergency doors were not functioning so they had to kick out the train windows to escape.

Photos from the scene show three to four cars rolled off the track and into the woods on the side of the road.  

'We had just passed the city of DuPont and it seemed like we were going around a curve,' Karnes said. 'All of a sudden, we felt this rocking and creaking noise, and it felt like we were heading down a hill. The next thing we know, we're being slammed into the front of our seats, windows are breaking, we stop, and there's water gushing out of the train. People were screaming.'

'The tracks for this line were supposed to be upgraded to be able to handle higher speeds,' he continued. 'I'm not sure what happen ed at this juncture.' 

Maria Hetland was driving to work on the northbound lanes when traffic slowed and she noticed the crash.

'As we were coming up the hill I rolled my window down and saw the train,' she told the Seattle Times. 'It was awful.'

Hetland said she could see people walking around the roadway near the derailment, and people sitting on the side of the freeway wrapped in blankets.  

Many rail enthusiasts were on the train to make the first trip of the new high-speed service

Amtrak derailment onto I-5 in Washington State on Monday

Numerous paramedics were seen at the scene on Monday 

Above is the train tracks where the train derailed Monday morning 

Daniel Konzelman, 24, was driving parallel to the train on his way to work as an accountant in Olympia. He was about 30 seconds ahead of the train on the freeway when he saw it derail.

Konzelman, who was driving with a friend, said he pulled off the freeway and then ran down along the tracks and over the bridge to get to the scene. They saw three cars and a semi-truck on the freeway that had been damaged by the derailment. There were train cars with their roofs ripped off, or that were tipped upside down, on both sides of the track or turned sideways on the bridge.

They climbed into train cars and found people hurt — some pinned underneath the train, others who appeared to be dead, he said. If they were mobile and seemed stable, he helped them climb out. If they appeared seriously hurt, he tried to comfort them by talking to them.

'I just wanted to help p eople because I would want people to help me,' he said. 'I'm an Eagle Scout. I have a lot of first-aid training and emergency response training.'

They stayed for nearly two hours before hitting the road again.

'I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. I saw a little bit of both,' he said.

Alex Rozier, a King TV reporter, told NBC News that he got off the train about 10 minutes before the derailment, after taking footage early on in the inaugural trip. 

He said there were many people on the train for its first trip, including rail enthusiasts. Passengers were given commemorative lanyards for the journey.

The new service is supposed to make the journey between Portland and Seattle in 3 hours and 20 minutes, about 10 minutes faster than previous services.

Part of the reason why the new route is faster is because it diverges from the main line on a 14-mile bypass between DuPont and Tacoma.

The new track is a straighter line so the train can go faster, while the old track was windy and made the journey slower.

The bypass already existed but had the tracks needed to be updated for high-speed trains, which heat up the metal on the tracks more significantly 

Monday's inaugural trip was the culmination of the $181million project, that also included construction of a new train station at Tacoma. 

Amtrak service south of Seattle on the line is temporarily suspended. Service is continuing to the north and east of the crash.

The derailment has also caused traffic chaos on Interstate 5, with all southbound lanes shut down and just two lanes getting by northbound. 

The State Police said that the southbound lanes will at least be closed down for the rest of the day. 

They are asking that people stay off I-5 if they don't need to use it.  

The freeway is a heavily trafficked road, with even more Washingtonians expected to be on the road this week to do Christmas shopping in sales-tax-free Oregon. 

Family of victims are being asked to report to the DuPont City Hall to be reunited with their loved ones. They are being told not to come to the scene. 

President Trump used the deadly derailment to call for more infrastructure spending in a tweet sent about three hours after the accident. He said the wreck, on a newly completed bypass, shows 'more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly.'

Ten minutes later, he expressed his sympathies for those who were killed.

'My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the train accident in DuPont, Washington. Thank you to all of our wonderful First Responders who are on the scene. We are currently monitoring here at the White house, he added. 

 

Source: 'At least six dead and 77 injured' after new high-speed Amtrak train derails after it 'hit something' on its FIRST day of service sending rail cars flying onto the interstate below

Oregon-based Samson promises 'flying sports car' for next year

If Oregon-based Samson sticks to its timeline, there will be a real flying car on sale next year. Samson revealed the Switchblade Wednesday and promises the functionality of a regular car and the ability to take off and fly in one package.

The company's creation is a three-wheel vehicle with a 1.6-liter V-4 gasoline engine with about 190 horsepower paired with a 5-speed automatic transmission. Unlike most flying car concepts, which are VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, the Switchblade is more like a light aircraft. Drivers and pilots won't be able to perform takeoffs on the street since the vehicle requires about 1,100 feet to take-off and 1,600 feet to land safely. The 26-foot wingspan doesn't help the prospect of street-based takeoffs either. However, if the wings are extended, the car will lift off the ground naturally after 80 mph.

When in the air, the vehicle will cruise at 13,000 feet with a top speed of 200 mph; on the ground, the Switchblade will top out at 100 mph. As for the running gear, extendable wings and a retractable tail are deployed manually or electronically controlled depending on the options equipped. Running 91 octane, the flying car will travel 450 miles before needing to refuel. Safety equipment includes a parachute for the whole vehicle, disc brakes front and rear, rollover protection. Creature comforts are rather minimal, but leather seats, a premium audio system, and a digital instrument cluster are all standard.

Those who need more than the standard gear can look at a Snowbird for colder areas, or more rugged Trek variant with heavy-duty landing gear. An Aurora variant combines both the standard Switchblade, Trek, and Snowbird features.

If any of this sounds interesting, Samson will ask $120,000 for the contraption. However, since U.S. law says the owner must assemble 51 percent of the vehicle—due to its classification—the company will charge another $20,000 for build assistance. And, yes, owners will need a valid driver's license and private pilot's license to operate the Switchblade legally.

Source: Oregon-based Samson promises 'flying sports car' for next year

Flying Car News, December 16

This week's top Flying Car News: Mercedes Benz successfully tests delivery drones, Charles Lindbergh's grandson announces a flying car startup, autonomous drones make headway against deadly diseases, and more!

Flying cars will be a significant part of the future of transportation. Recent advancements in drone technology, electric VTOL aircraft, and autonomous systems have paved the way for an aerial transportation revolution. We created the Udacity Flying Car News Series, to ensure you stay up-to-date on all the latest Flying Car and Autonomous Aircraft stories!

Drone Delivery

Mercedes Benz used drones to successfully conduct over 100 deliveries of everyday items like ground coffee and cellphones in Zurich.

"The drones then flew to four fixed points in the city, covering a distance as far as 17 kilometers (11 miles) to land on the roofs of specially adapted Mercedes-Benz Vito vans."

Flying Race Car

Australian startup Aulada announced its prototype for a Flying Race Car, called "Airspeeder," which is inspired by classic 1960's Formula V race cars.

"While most engineers and developers think the only possible use case for these vertical take-off and landing vehicles (VTOLs) — which are really just oversized drones, when you think about it — is some sort of aerial taxi service, Alauda is going in a different direction. Its focus is on speed and sport. Its goal, in its own words, is to build 'the Ferrari of the sky.'"

Swarm Art

Studio Drift partnered with BMW to create a drone swarm art display in Miami. The flying sculpture, entitled "Franchise Freedom," is meant to emulate the natural flying behavior of birds.

"The 300 drones were mounted with lights and their movements were dictated by algorithms that caused them to fly above the ocean outside the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach in mesmerizing patterns."

Lindbergh Legacy

Erik Lundbergh, grandson of legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh, announces new flying car startup Verdego Aero.

"Our global economy has been stuck in a traffic jam for decades, but the technology is here to make the dream of 'flying car' transportation a reality."

Drones Defeat Diseases

Autonomous drones are helping defeat diseases like Zika, dengue, and malaria by delivering millions of sterile male mosquitoes to difficult-to-reach areas.

"There's a new weapon in the war against mosquitoes, and it's not a vaccine or a new insecticide — it's aerial drones."

If you are interested in joining the pioneering generation of engineers who will build the smart transportation systems of the future, discover Udacity's Flying Car Nanodegree Program today!

And stay tuned for more Flying Car News!

Source: Flying Car News, December 16

Oregon-based Samson promises 'flying sports car' for next year

If Oregon-based Samson sticks to its timeline, there will be a real flying car on sale next year. Samson revealed the Switchblade Wednesday and promises the functionality of a regular car and the ability to take off and fly in one package.

The company's creation is a three-wheel vehicle with a 1.6-liter V-4 gasoline engine with about 190 horsepower paired with a 5-speed automatic transmission. Unlike most flying car concepts, which are VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, the Switchblade is more like a light aircraft. Drivers and pilots won't be able to perform takeoffs on the street since the vehicle requires about 1,100 feet to take-off and 1,600 feet to land safely. The 26-foot wingspan doesn't help the prospect of street-based takeoffs either. However, if the wings are extended, the car will lift off the ground naturally after 80 mph.

When in the air, the vehicle will cruise at 13,000 feet with a top speed of 200 mph; on the ground, the Switchblade will top out at 100 mph. As for the running gear, extendable wings and a retractable tail are deployed manually or electronically controlled depending on the options equipped. Running 91 octane, the flying car will travel 450 miles before needing to refuel. Safety equipment includes a parachute for the whole vehicle, disc brakes front and rear, rollover protection. Creature comforts are rather minimal, but leather seats, a premium audio system, and a digital instrument cluster are all standard.

Those who need more than the standard gear can look at a Snowbird for colder areas, or more rugged Trek variant with heavy-duty landing gear. An Aurora variant combines both the standard Switchblade, Trek, and Snowbird features.

If any of this sounds interesting, Samson will ask $120,000 for the contraption. However, since U.S. law says the owner must assemble 51 percent of the vehicle—due to its classification—the company will charge another $20,000 for build assistance. And, yes, owners will need a valid driver's license and private pilot's license to operate the Switchblade legally.

Source: Oregon-based Samson promises 'flying sports car' for next year

Oregon-based Samson promises "flying sports car" for next year

Your email was sent successfully.

Close

]]>

If Oregon-based Samson sticks to its timeline, there will be a real flying car on sale next year. Samson revealed the Switchblade Wednesday and promises the functionality of a regular car and the ability to take off and fly in one package.

The company's creation is a three-wheel vehicle with a 1.6-liter V-4 gasoline engine with about 190 horsepower paired with a 5-speed automatic transmission. Unlike most flying car concepts, which are VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, the Switchblade is more like a light aircraft. Drivers and pilots won't be able to perform takeoffs on the street since the vehicle requires about 1,100 feet to take-off and 1,600 feet to land safely. The 26-foot wingspan doesn't help the prospect of street-based takeoffs either. However, if the wings are extended, the car will lift off the ground naturally after 80 mph.

When in the air, the vehicle will cruise at 13,000 feet with a top speed of 200 mph; on the ground, the Switchblade will top out at 100 mph. As for the running gear, extendable wings and a retractable tail are deployed manually or electronically controlled depending on the options equipped. Running 91 octane, the flying car will travel 450 miles before needing to refuel. Safety equipment includes a parachute for the whole vehicle, disc brakes front and rear, rollover protection. Creature comforts are rather minimal, but leather seats, a premium audio system, and a digital instrument cluster are all standard.

Those who need more than the standard gear can look at a Snowbird for colder areas, or more rugged Trek variant with heavy-duty landing gear. An Aurora variant combines both the standard Switchblade, Trek, and Snowbird features.

If any of this sounds interesting, Samson will ask $120,000 for the contraption. However, since U.S. law says the owner must assemble 51 percent of the vehicle—due to its classification—the company will charge another $20,000 for build assistance. And, yes, owners will need a valid driver's license and private pilot's license to operate the Switchblade legally.

Source: Oregon-based Samson promises "flying sports car" for next year

There's Another Announcement About A New Flying Car And It Makes Me Hate What I've Become

What happened to me? I used to be the sort of person that loved hearing about the flying cars we'd all enjoy in the future. The very idea was thrilling, the technology ingenious, the potential inspiring. But now, when we get emails about new flying cars like this one called the Switchblade, I find I'm just a cranky, bitter old bastard. Because I don't believe any of this bullshit anymore.

Do you even want to hear about this flying car? It's basically the same damn story as every other flying car ever, but why the hell not, I guess, freaking Robb Report just recently wrote about it, like this is the one that's actually going to happen, unlike every other goddamn amazing new flying car that's just about ready.

We've been doing this fucking dance for DECADES

Ug, fine. Okay. Here's this one: it's made by a company called Samson, the flying car is a three-wheeled thing with retractable wings and tail (hence the switchblade name), it'll fly at 200 mph and 13,000 feet (they imagine—of course, they haven't built it yet to see), they call it a 'flying sportscar,' it'll cost about $140,000 ($500,000 for the Limited Edition model), and it's supposed to make its first flight next spring, and begin deliveries by the end of 2018.

Ha ha ha ha ha bullshit bullshit bullshit. My god. Look what's happened to me. There's no way I can see a date about a year or two out for "expected deliveries" on a flying car and take it remotely seriously. Are they fucking kidding? Do they have no idea how many times we've been fed this line?

Oh, also, for this one, you have to build 51 percent of it yourself. Line forms here, people!

Here's a thing that doesn't actually exist

Really, though, the three-wheel part and the home-built requirements are by far the most probable parts of this whole plan. Three wheels means it doesn't have to meet conventional four-wheel car safety or emission standards, which this won't, ever, and the 51 percent. home-built part lets it be classified as an Experimental/Homebuilt aircraft.

Beyond that, though, the Switchblade is as much of a cliché of the flying car idea as you can imagine. The company puts out videos like this one explaining why we need flying cars:

Sure, traffic's a pain, and the freedom would be great, and, yes, I love the idea of a flying car—but this video's main point is that you can have so much more spare time if you can travel 300 miles in under two hours, an argument which only works if you ignore the fact that all your spare time will be devoured by the incredibly involved and lengthy process of getting your freaking pilot's license and, oh, home-building 51 percent of your goddamn airplane-car.

I hate that I feel this way about something as cool as a flying car. I hate that all these flying car companies have made me like this, and now I hate Samson for doing it to me all over again.

Will they actually build this stupid thing? Maybe. I don't know. It barely matters. Even if they do, they're going to what, sell a couple to some bored rich dudes? This isn't going to revolutionize personal transportation. We're not all going to get pilot's licenses and zip around in 300-mile jumps in these.

I'm such a miserable jerk. These people are just trying to do something interesting and fun and exciting, right? I'm sure they're all fantastic people and wonderful engineers.

I just can't help it. Flying cars announcements all sound the same now, touting the same things, making the same promises, and they all, invariably, come to jack shit.

Here's my advice to Samson or anyone else thinking about making a flying car: shut up.

Seriously. Shut up. Don't say a thing. Build your flying car. Just build it. Figure out how you're going to manufacture them, figure out how many can actually, realistically, be sold, figure out a way to automate out the need for a non-freaking-trivial pilot's license, figure out how the air traffic issues will be managed, figure out the failsafes, figure out the transition from sky to road figure it all out.

Then—and only then—send out your breathless press release. Send it out with pictures and video of the thing in action, and an invitation for media to try one out.

That's the only way to do this now. We've literally been burned by flying promises for nearly a century, so all our goodwill and doubt-benefits packages have been used up.

And I swear, if I hear about another flying car that's just two years away, I'm going to cry, loudly and publicly, and all those stupid fucking flying cars will have to watch and know that they did this to me. They broke me.

So shut up, flying cars. Shut up.

Source: There's Another Announcement About A New Flying Car And It Makes Me Hate What I've Become

'Grand Theft Auto' flying and swimming DeLorean lookalike is possibly the game's coolest car

UPDATE: In an earlier version of this post, we mistakenly identified both the flying car and the submersible as the Imponte Deluxo. The Deluxo is just the flying vehicle and a different car is the submersible. The text has been updated to reflect this.

While everyone's list of favorite movie cars varies to some degree, it's safe to say that the "Back to the Future" DeLorean shows up on most of them, as well as James Bond's submersible Lotus Esprit. It's no wonder as one travels through time and flies, and the other is a submarine piloted by the world's most famous fictional spy, which actually probably isn't good for a secret agent. Anyway, we digress. Actually owning a real DeLorean or Esprit can be difficult and expensive, though, so why not get the lookalikes coming to "Grand Theft Auto V Online" this week?

The car is called the Imponte Deluxo, because GTA never features officially licensed names, and it makes its debut in a big batch of content for the game called "The Doomsday Heist." Like Doc Brown's DeLorean in "Back to the Future Part II," the trailer shows a whole fleet of them taking to the skies from the highway.

Later in the trailer, we also see a squadron of vehicles clearly inspired by Bond's Lotus. That's two awesome movie cars in one pack that are fully functional and don't cost money to gas up, insure, and most notably in this case, maintain. They also should look great in your virtual garage next to a Tron-style light cycle.

This actually isn't the first time a tribute to the "Back to the Future" DeLorean has shown up in a video game. In the racing game "Burnout Paradise," the developers released a pack of movie-inspired cars, including a DeLorean lookalike. It couldn't fly like the GTA version, but it could hover, it had the movie car's extra fins and devi ces, and it left fiery tire tracks when hitting the boost.

Related Video:

Source: 'Grand Theft Auto' flying and swimming DeLorean lookalike is possibly the game's coolest car

Flying car racing could be coming to Australia

2 pictures

Matt Pearson with a mockup of the Mirage Airspeeder (NOT the Mark 1 Airspeeder, which would be the first model to actually fly)

View gallery - 2 images

Much of the technology found in today's consumer automobiles was originally designed to give race cars a competitive edge. With that in mind, Australian entrepreneur Matt Pearson figured that if there's one way of accelerating the development of flying cars, it's to race the things. To that end, his company Alauda is now building what is essentially a human-capable racing drone.

Known as the Alauda Mark 1 Airspeeder, plans call for the vehicle to carry one pilot up to a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph). It will be equipped with four custom 50-megawatt brushless electric motors, powered by the same lithium-ion cells as used in the battery of a Tesla Model S. With an aerospace aluminum frame and a carbon fiber composite body, it should have a net weight of 120 kg (265 lb) and a power-to-weight ratio of 1.66.

It all sounds very ambitious, although the Alauda team isn't promising huge things for flight time just yet – the goal currently sits at about 10 minutes.

Plans currently call for the retro-bodied Mark 1 (pictured above) to make its first test flight in early 2018, followed by a head-to-head race between two of the vehicles taking place in the Australian desert late in the year. The first-ever Airspeeder World Championship, in which flying cars from different manufacturers race against one another, could subsequently be held in 2020.

For now, though, Matt's raising money on Kickstarter. No, you can't get an Airspeeder of your own, although a minimum pledge of AUD$35 will get you exclusive access to a livestream of next year's test race – assuming it happens, of course.

"It's just time the world had flying cars," says Pearson. "Racing will push the technology like nothing else. It's not enough to build the speeder: we have to build the sport. We want to bring the excitement and values of Formula 1 to the sky."

View gallery - 2 images
Source: Flying car racing could be coming to Australia

Flying cars are closer than you think

You've heard the news: Uber's flying cars could arrive by 2020. How about electric aeroplanes, drones that can transport people, or the return of supersonic jets? This might seem like something straight out of science fiction but the future of air travel that we've all dreamed about is closer than you might think.

Using Quid, we analysed what people are publishing online about the future of air travel and below is a summary of what we found.

Image: Quid, sourced from 3,521 articles from the last year

Supersonic flight

The network above contains 3,521 news and blogs articles about aeroplane startups. Each node represents an article or blog, while the coloured clusters signify unique themes. Links between each node represent semantic similarity between the articles. The stronger the similarity, the closer they get pulled in together.

Five topics stood out, mainly because they generated significant news volume but also because these specific topics are a dramatic departure from aeroplane travel as we know it today. The topics include supersonic flight, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology, electric aeroplanes, drones, and transformative technology. In the image below, you can see where each topic is located and how they clustered together in different quadrants on the network.

Image: Quid

The "supersonic" cluster makes up 4.4% of the network, where the main focus is on companies developing a faster, more cost-efficient version of the Concorde jet. In this cluster, Wonderful Engineering explains that typical aeroplanes cruise the skies at around 570 mph and must avoid faster speeds since the associated high temperatures can strip off layers of material from metal.

A new type of protective ceramic coating called reactive melt infiltration was recently invented by a research team at The University of Manchester, which has opened the doors for startups to begin development.

With this new technology, the return of supersonic airlines is a reality. But which companies are leading the charge in this space? To get a better understanding, we switched over to a bar chart view filtered by company mentions.

We found that Boom Technology, a Denver startup who is aiming to create a 55 passenger civilian supersonic transport aircraft has the most mentions. Virgin Galactic has the second most mentions and we learned that Richard Branson is buying the first 10 Boom Jets with the goal of using them to commercially fly from New York to London in under 3 hours at prices that beat current business class rates.

Other companies with a high number of article mentions include Spike Aerospace, another player in the supersonic business jet market; and Stratasys, a company that Boom partnered with to use a 3D printing technology, known as fused deposition modelling, for production grade aircraft parts.

We then looked at companies focused on vertical take-off and landing technology.

Image: Quid

A number of articles discussed helicopter prototypes that use VTOL technology- potentially foreshadowing a new era of public transportation. Uber Elevate, which has its own cluster, is based on a white paper that Uber published outlining a proposal for commercialising VTOL public air transportation. The company is not planning to build its concept but instead is trying to organise and promote development from other startups. Their goal is to have flying cars in circulation by the year 2020.

Uber isn't the only one interested in this technology. Google co-founder Larry Page has reportedly spent $100 million on flying-car startups, including Zee.Aero, whose flying car was reportedly spotted in Hollister in October. Zee.Aero is a division of Kitty Hawk — an electric flying vehicle that is designed to fly and land over water. Kitty Hawk has announced plans to start sales within the year.

Other noteworthy companies involved in VTOL include:

• German-based Lilium Jet, which has successfully test-flown the world's first electric VTOL two-seater jet. The company just raised $90 million and is developing a five-seater to be used by ride-hailing services.

• Airbus is also developing two vehicles: a single-person VTOL under its Silicon Valley arm A³, as part of its Project Vahana, and a flying taxi system called CityAirbus, which is a helicopter hybrid and would resemble a small drone.

• Slovakia-based AeroMobil unveiled its latest model flying car at an auto show in Monaco and started accepting pre-orders. It will start shipping in 2020 for around $1 million.

• Terrafugia made its first public test flight of a two-seater car-aeroplane hybrid at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture convention in Wisconsin in 2013.

• XTI Aircraft recently announced that it has sold 60 pre-orders of its new six-seater VTOL aircraft, the TriFan 600. The company claims the hybrid aircraft will make helicopters obsolete by reaching speeds of 345 mph and a range of up 1,200 miles. It plans to be in full production by 2020.

Electric commercial aircraft

We found 217 articles concerning electric airline startups and major financial backing announcements in the space. Estimates say that this new type of aviation will cut travel times by 40% and fares by up to 80%.

Two companies in this space stood out with the most mentions. The Mountain View, California startup, Wright Electric, is a company working on building 150-seat electric planes designed for faster and more efficient travel. It has designed its plane to have modular battery packs for quick swap, using the same cargo container that is in a regular aeroplane. The low-cost airline EasyJet has expressed interested in making the plane its fifth private jet.

The other is the Boeing and JetBlue-backed Zunum Aero startup, which is working on developing the first hybrid electric commercial passenger aircraft to fuel a regional travel revival. Zunum Aero is developing 10 to 50-seat aircraft with the hopes of bringing "a new golden era" of fast and affordable electric travel.

Its chief executive, Ashish Kumar, says: "The idea is to create aircraft that fit in dormant routes. These are routes that have fallen into disuse due to trends that favour larger aircraft serving bigger airports. Currently, only 2% of the US's more than 5,000 airports account for 96% of air traffic; an indication that the bigger airports are crowded, making service at the smaller ones costly, if it even exists."

Drones

Drones were another big part of the conversation, comprising three clusters accounting for around 9% of the network. We recently looked at how drones are evolving through our company's dataset. We found new product developments, go-to market strategies, and uncovered that there are more to drones than just the consumer models we hear about. While we touched upon this last part in our previous analysis, in this network we found several companies, concepts, and strategies adapting drones for other purposes.

• Aerospace startup Echodyne Corp. has raised $29 million in Series B funding to give robots "radar-vision".

• Iris Automation raised $1.5 million in Series-A funding to develop collision avoidance systems for drones.

• Airobotics, a startup building autonomous drones for the enterprise sector, just received $32.5m in funding to expand business into defence and homeland security.

Airbus is not only involved with VTOL, it recently announced its commercial drone service startup Aerial, which aims to bring aerospace engineering, satellite imagery and drone services together to target industries including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and more.

Among others is Zipline, a California-based startup that uses drones to deliver medical equipment. Understanding that more than two billion people lack adequate access to essential medical products, the company has based its service around a small robot aeroplane that can carry the desired goods, conquering challenging terrains and gaps in infrastructure. Its fixed-wing design can fly further, faster, and in more inclement weather conditions than a quadcopter.

Go Unmanned is offering the ability to capture 3D models of worksites through the use of drones. Dr James Robbins, professor and ornamental crop specialist at the University of Arkansas, says: "This 3D model can be used as a sales tool (proof of concept), for materials management when determining quantity of materials needed to build hills or contours in the land, create rock walls or envision installation of different trees, bushes, flowers and other landscape elements."

SkySkopes is now the first North Dakotan unmanned aircraft systems company to receive permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly at night under the agency's recently implemented unmanned aircraft system rules. They are in cooperation with Xcel Energy as part of a research project that is exploring the use of drones to assess storm damage.

Amazon is, of course, mentioned for its recent demonstration of Amazon Prime Air delivery. Google Alphabet has also started testing an early version of a technology for managing unmanned drone delivery systems.

As the regulatory system starts to fall into place (of note, California recently banned marijuana delivery by drones), it seems that drone delivery methods will be commercialised in the near future, especially with these two massive corporations leading the charge.

Technology transforming airline travel

In the lower quadrant of the network, we can see a focus on technology with clusters like Machine Learning, Energy, and Displays and Manuals. These clusters are focused on implementing new programming, reducing costs, creating thinner and more durable materials, and improving energy consumption though advances in batteries.

Image: Quid
Source: Flying cars are closer than you think

Hit by vehicle, deer goes flying and crashes into windshield of Anoka County squad car

An Anoka County sheriff's deputy was injured this week when an oncoming vehicle struck a deer that had run onto the roadway. The deer went airborne, landing on the windshield of the deputy's squad car.

The impact was captured by the squad's dashboard-mounted video camera.

The deputy had glass fragments in his eyes after the windshield shattered.

The collision happened Wednesday night in the 1600 block of Briarwood Lane Northeast in East Bethel.

The other driver wasn't injured. As for the deer, Anoka County sheriff's Cmdr. Paul Sommer said via Twitter: "Oddest fact about the deer crash, the deer got up and ran away from the scene and was not located."

Source: Hit by vehicle, deer goes flying and crashes into windshield of Anoka County squad car

Flying deer crashes through deputy's squad car in Anoka County

See more of the story

Dashcam video captured a dramatic car-deer crash earlier this week in Anoka County that left a sheriff's deputy slightly injured.

The deputy was driving on the 1200 block of Briarwood Lane in East Bethel on Wednesday when the deer was struck by an oncoming vehicle. The collision sent the buck airborne and it crashed through the windshield of the deputy's squad.

The deputy had glass fragments in his eyes as a result of the crash, but otherwise was OK. The other driver was not injured, said Cmdr. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.

The moral of the story, Sommer said, is that most car-deer collisions are unavoidable circumstances, and that all drivers should be cautious when traveling in open wooded areas.

As for the deer, it got up and ran away from the scene and was not located.

"Oddest fact of the crash," Sommer said in a tweet.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768

Source: Flying deer crashes through deputy's squad car in Anoka County

Grand Theft Auto Online's The Doomsday Heist Has Flying Cars And Jetpacks

Rockstar are going to be releasing a new set of missions for Grand Theft Auto Online on December 12th which is called The Doomsday Heist, and it appears to have taken a lot of inspiration from spy movies. The gist of the story here is that an organisation is out to destroy San Andreas but only your crew can stop them.

A trailer has been released which seems to confirm that The Doomsday Event will include flying cars that can also go underwater and jetpacks.

Source: YouTube

Source: Grand Theft Auto Online's The Doomsday Heist Has Flying Cars And Jetpacks

Scary moment a distracted driver slams into the back of a car sending shattered glass - and an unrestrained young girl - flying

Dashcam footage shows the moment a car rear-ends another vehicle in the rain

A young girl in the front seat is sent flying by the force of impact and car dented

Social media users slammed the driver, saying girl should have been restrained 

By Sam Duncan For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 06:15 EST, 6 December 2017 | Updated: 07:03 EST, 6 December 2017

e-mail

3

View comments

A young girl riding in the front seat is thrown forward when her car rear-ends another vehicle - showing the importance of child restraints.

Shocking dashcam footage shows the moment a distracted driver runs into the back of another car, sending the girl flying.

The accident, which happened in Melbourne, caused significant damage to the car at fault, which was left with a large dent in the bonnet.

Scroll down for video 

Shocking dashcam footage shows the moment a distracted driver runs into the back of another car, sending the girl flying (pictured)

The accident, which happened in Melbourne, caused significant damage to the car at fault, which was left with a large dent in the bonnet

The blue car, believed to be a Proton, was driving in light rain when th e motorist in front slowed down, video posted by Dashcam Owners Australia shows. 

Appearing distracted, the blue car ran right into the back of the car with the rear-facing dashcam.

A young girl riding in the car was sent flying by the force of the impact, and the driver can be seen checking on the child as the car slows.

Social media users were quick to condemn the driver, saying the child should have been sitting in a booster seat.

'Any parent that puts a small child in the front seat of a car without a seatbelt should be thrown in jail!' wrote one irate Facebook user.

'A child that young should not be in the front passenger seat! Why was she not in the back in a booster? Why was she not wearing a seat belt?' asked another.

 A young girl riding in the front seat is thrown forward when her car (pictured) rear-ends another vehicle - showing the importance of child restraints

Some disagreed, with one person accusing others of being as blind as the driver involved.

'Little girl IS wearing a seatbelt. Girl IS in a booster seat. Driver DOES have phone in hand. How f***ing blind are you people?' he wrote.

'Surprised most of you aren't in more scenes from this page!'

Victoria child restraint road rules require all children under 7 years of age must legally be seated in a correctly fitted child restraint or booster seat.

Children over 7 years of age must use either a booster seat with a properly fastened and adjusted adult seatbelt, or an adult seat with an adult seatbelt.

A young girl riding in the car was sent flying by the force of the impact, and the driver can be seen checking on the child as the car slows (pictured)

 

Source: Scary moment a distracted driver slams into the back of a car sending shattered glass - and an unrestrained young girl - flying

Uber’s flying car project shows the company’s desperation

The Jetsons are here, the Jetsons are here – well, almost. Uber, the massively popular yet unprofitable ridesharing company, recently announced, with great fanfare, that it's on the verge of producing – drumroll please – FLYING cars.

Yes, you read that correctly. They are calling it Uber Elevate, and allegedly it's coming faster than the director's cut of "Blade Runner 2049."

In fact, Uber's head of product Jeff Holden says flying cars are only three years away. Holden announced that the company will be piloting an aerial taxi service in Los Angeles by 2020, as well as in Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai.

Personally, I could not keep from laughing. Americans tend to be hyper-optimistic about technology, and I enjoy a few techno-trinkets and baubles myself. But here's what's wrong with this picture.

How bad are Uber's financials? Recently some Silicon Valley investors, such as Roger McNamee, have said that Uber is actually worth far less than $70 billion. Yet the company counters critics by claiming it has about $6.6 billion in cash on hand. That sounds like a lot of money, until you realize that, at its current cash burn rate, it will be out of business in about two years. So Uber's relatively new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced the scandal-plagued founder Travis Kalanick, has to figure out how to raise a lot more venture capital to keep this leaky barge afloat.

Enter SoftBank, a ginormous Japanese venture capital conglomerate, to take advantage of Uber's desperation. SoftBank has offered to purchase a giant stake in Uber, but only at a 30% discount on the $70 billion it's supposedly worth. SoftBank is offering to buy out original investors and early employees at this discounted price, many who have been waiting in vain for an IPO and now are getting nervous as they watch so many rats jump from the leaky ship. The worried Khosrowshahi has encouraged his board to accept this offer, yet SoftBank continues to play hardball, saying it might withdraw its offer and invest instead in Lyft, Uber's ridesharing competitor. With a company this vulnerable, why not shake it down for an even better deal?

Uber has tried to project a rosier picture, announcing that gross bookings (a measure of demand for its ride services) rose 11 percent to $9.7 billion in the third quarter, and that net revenue grew 21 percent. But even if we can believe the numbers of a desperate company – in the past, Uber has repeatedly played fast and loose with the facts – those numbers shouldn't encourage any potential investors. That's because Uber's business model is so upside-down that the more customers it has, the more money it loses. Here's why.

Uber has become stuck in a trap, using its venture capital funding to subsidize at least 50 percent of every ride to cut fares and try to gain a monopoly position that can drive the competition out of business. Uber has never figured out a way to introduce any new efficiencies that would allow this company to provide taxi service at lower fares and still earn a profit. Amazon, for example, was able to bring an efficiency to retail by getting rid of brick and mortar stores and sales clerks across the country through selling online. That allowed Amazon to leverage those savings to sell its products cheaper than the competition, yet still eventually reach profitability. What efficiency does Uber bring to the taxi industry? None significant enough to fundamentally disrupt the market realities of this industry. The ultimate irony: Uber is charging too little for each passenger ride, so the more customers use Uber, the greater is its operating deficit.

This is the company that is going to produce flying taxis? Seriously? Uber has tried to add a gloss of respectability to this P.T. Barnum-esque bait-and-switch by announcing, again with great fanfare, that it is "partnering" with NASA to figure out a brand-new air traffic management for flying cars. All those flying taxis will need a way to avoid airborne collisions, so this part of the nation's infrastructure would need to be dramatically redesigned.

I called NASA to ask about the extent of this partnership. All the spokeswoman would confirm is that NASA has entered into a Space Act Agreement with Uber, and directed me to a list on the NASA website of such agreements. That list includes an estimate of the dollar value of this agreement — a whopping $376,000. That's peanuts, practically a rounding error for a government agency as large as NASA — or a company like Uber valued at tens of billions of dollars — and certainly not enough to overhaul air traffic management.

I don't mean to be so hard on Uber, but this company brings it upon itself with its frequent overhyped "Moonshots to Nowhere," as I like to call them. Its brash experiments with self-driving cars are stalled, bogged down by lawsuits over technology theft. Even the autonomous technology itself, while impressive, is still unproven and will take many years to mature. Silicon Valley is full of companies like this. The dirty little secret of Silicon Valley is that seven out of 10 start-ups fail because they never become profitable. Uber is on track to becoming one of them because, like all the others, it has failed to produce a product or service at a price point that allows it to beat the competition and also reach profitability.

The other enormous obstacle to Uber's dream is perhaps the greatest of all — the company currently does not have a working model of a flying car to show anyone, not even a prototype. All they have is their fancy video with its CGI spaceship, like something ripped out of a James Cameron movie. In other words, vaporware.

But Uber isn't the only company trying to hyper-spin its way to a transportation revolution of flying cars. Several other companies at least have working prototypes. Sebastian Thrun, one of the original pioneers behind Google's autonomous car project, is now CEO of Kitty Hawk, a Larry Page–funded company that promises to bring flying cars to the world — not by 2020 but by this February. Hey, why not advance-order one as a Christmas present for your spouse?

The Flyer, as Thrun calls it, is essentially a giant drone with a human plunked in the middle of it, and no wheels. Online promotional videos show this machine hovering — very loudly — 10 to 15 feet above the water and maneuvering like a giant flying insect. Company literature says the vehicle weighs around 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and can hit speeds of up to 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour). Watching it online is truly an impressive display – until you contemplate the notion of thousands of humans ripping through the skies on these clunky units, like the flying monkeys in "The Wizard of Oz."

Undoubtedly the design will get better over time, and Thrun says his flying vehicles will be the next "Next Big Thing," supplanting even autonomous automobiles and trucks. "The vision of the company is that … there's no reason why we should be stuck in traffic anymore when we can fly," he says. "The air is so free of stuff and is so unused compared to the ground."

Besides coming up with a machine that is safe for mass transportation use, Thrun's biggest obstacle is government regulations. Or, rather, the lack of them. Local, state and federal regulators will need to coordinate management of any types of flying vehicles, which is bound to involve a very complicated, lengthy process. Thrun envisions people transported through the air as ubiquitously as they are now across the ground. Yet even he admits that "the equivalent of a fender-bender in the air is likely death." The Federal Aviation Administration already has put the brakes on the usage of small drones, and it will no doubt be even more cautious when it comes to heavier flying vehicles that are transporting human beings.

But Thrun has a simple response to those regulatory hurdles – he says his machines are already "safe, tested and legal to operate in the US," requiring no pilot license or certification, as long as they are flown in uncongested areas. But wait a minute; in California, you need a valid driver's license, registration and insurance to drive a golf cart on city streets. According to Thrun, his flying pods are, well, above those old laws. In true Silicon Valley "disruptor" fashion, he seems prepared to ignore common sense safety precautions. And who knows, perhaps the Trump administration will say, "let's roll the dice" on this unproven technology — just as it has loosened Obama administration regulations on self-driving cars. Laissez-faire, über alles.

I'm not a Luddite, and I admit that my crystal ball doesn't have infinite vision; who knows, maybe one day we will have flying cars, and self-driving vehicles, too. One company that has a credible-looking prototype is called Lilium Aviation, based in Munich, Germany. It has flown a very impressive two-seat electric pod (see video in this link) that has VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing, like a helicopter) but then shuttles along smoothly, like a jet. It has raised a modest $90 million to fund the next phase of development, and estimates that it will provide on-demand air transport for passengers by 2025. Like its competitors, that's probably a bit of overestimated hype, but at least both Lilium's product and its hype doesn't appear to have both feet planted firmly in the air, like its competitors.

It's bound to be a slow race to see which company, and which type of technology, might eventually succeed. But one thing seems clear: the winner will not be Uber. Indeed, Uber may not even be around in another few years. The company's biggest challenge right now is survival; talk of anything else is just a distraction, meant to reinforce its global reputation as a cutting edge technology company and lure investors with vaporware like its flying car. But there's nothing cutting-edge about overhyping your product and under-delivering your service.

Source: Uber's flying car project shows the company's desperation

Flying Car News, December 2

This week's top Flying Car News: Airbus pursues autonomous pilotless airplanes, a hybrid octocopter is set to fly in Las Vegas, a British flying car company is accepting preorders, and more!

Flying cars will be a significant part of the future of transportation. Recent advancements in drone technology, electric VTOL aircraft, and autonomous systems have paved the way for an aerial transportation revolution. We created the Udacity Flying Car News Series, to ensure you stay up-to-date on all the latest Flying Car and Autonomous Aircraft stories!

Pilotless Airplanes

Airbus is hoping autonomous technology will help cut costs for carriers by reducing the amount of pilots needed to operate commercial aircraft, with the ultimate goal of replacing pilots entirely.

"We're pursuing single-pilot operation as a potential option, and a lot of the technologies needed to make that happen have also put us on the path towards unpiloted operation."

Acquisition

Volvo's parent company buys flying car startup Terrafugia.

"The team at Terrafugia have been at the forefront of believing in and realizing the vision for a flying car and creating the ultimate mobility solution," Geely's founder and chairman Li Shufu said in a statement."

Octocopter

The SureFly octocopter is set to make its first manned flight in January in Las Vegas.

"Billed as being "the world's first personal electric hybrid octocopter," the 1,100-lb (499-kg) SureFly has four propeller arms with two fixed contra-rotating propellers on each one, along with a gas combustion engine that generates electricity to run the eight electric motors."

Flying Car

British flying car NeoXcraft is accepting preorders now. Get yours by 2020!

"The futuristic 'NeoXCraft' will use four high-powered fans to reach speeds of up to 210mph (320kph) and could take off from right outside your home. If you don't fancy flying to your destination, these fans will fold down to become wheels for land-based driving."

Conservation

San Diego Zoo Global partners with Northrop Grumman to deploy autonomous drones for Polar Bear Conservation.

"The partners say the autonomous UAS will be used to provide a more detailed, finer-scale view of sea ice habitat. Importantly, it also offers the potential to observe polar bears without disturbing the animals or posing a risk to humans."

If you're interested in joining the pioneering generation of engineers who will build the smart transportation systems of the future, discover Udacity's Flying Car Nanodegree Program today!

And stay tuned for more Flying Car News!

Source: Flying Car News, December 2

Robbie Williams put Geri Horner in a car boot to escape the paparazzi

©  Dave Hogan/Getty Images

Robbie Williams always comes to The Graham Norton Show with genuinely outrageous tales of his sexcapades.

Nobody watching will ever forget a sex story he told on the BBC One chatshow that was so lewd it was edited out of future airings and even removed from YouTube. There's no topping that, right?

We're talking about Robbie here, so of course he topped it! During his visit with Graham on Friday night (December 1), the former Take That star shared a truly bizarre tale about hanging out with Spice Girl Geri Horner.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

"We weren't dating. We were friends and… you know," he slyly teased. "I used to have this flat in Notting Hill, and the window was quite public. A bus would pull up and they'd just be watching Robbie Williams watch the television every 20 minutes.

"That particular evening, Geri was around at the flat. I don't know how but 20 to 25 paparazzi were outside and they were letting the flashlights go off, trying to get us to come to the window.

"I thought I'd phone the police to see what my rights are… The police came around, and I said, 'I'm really sorry to get you round, mate'. I don't want to be a hindrance but I've got all of these paparazzi and I just want to know what my rights are. The police goes, 'Can I stop you? When you start out, in your career, that's when you want the press, isn't it? When the press want something from you, you don't like that, do you?'

"I'm thinking, oh no! Now I've got a policeman in my house and Geri Halliwell hiding in the cupboard right to the policeman as we're having this conversation. I've just gotta get him out because I don't want to be told off… Off he went.

©  Getty Images Dave Benett

"I told Geri we can't do anything about the paparazzi, and we should get out of here. I had a genius idea to put her in a Hold-All [case] because she's a very small person. I literally put her in this duffle bag and put her over my shoulder. Meanwhile the paparazzi are all taking pictures and I'm like, 'Hi, guys!'"

This story could not possibly get any weirder, right? Guys, this is Robbie Williams we're talking about here…

"[Geri] had a car and I put her in the boot of her car," Robbie admitted. "Which is funny. When we got to the service station and I had a KFC, I could have let her out but nature called I had to have that chicken!"

He was just kidding about that KFC bit! With a story as wild as this one, surely Robbie must have asked Geri Horner's permission to tell it in his memoir Reveal and on TV, right?

"No, I haven't done that," Robbie admitted.

©  BBC

Uh oh. The Graham Norton continues next Friday (December 8) on BBC One with a jam-packed line-up, including Jessica Chastain, Dawn French, Rebel Wilson, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and music from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

Source: Robbie Williams put Geri Horner in a car boot to escape the paparazzi