Everybody Gets a Chauffeur

(Image courtesy Hanna-Barbera)

Still no flying cars, but our earthbound cars are about to get a whole lot smarter:

Cars in the next few years will be able to find the fastest route for the morning commute as well as order coffee, pay for it and guide the driver to pick it up.

This transformation of the auto into a full-service mobile device adds up to a potential goldmine. Revenue from the data streams and connectivity components could become a 180 billion-euro ($200 billion) market by 2020, McKinsey & Co. estimates. That's a rich target for Apple Inc. and Google Inc., and automakers are fighting for a claim as well.

Instead of just producing transport hardware, "we have to get into the service industry in a larger way," Tony Douglas, BMW AG's mobility services unit, said to a roomful of executives at a recent conference in Munich.

In a few years I'll be telling my car to have my sons back by 11, instead of the other way around.

Source: Everybody Gets a Chauffeur

Boeing Sky Commuter 'flying car' prototype sells for over $70,000

That private jet will seem so passé if you could park Boeing's Sky Commuter flying car in your garage.

Looking like something from The Jetsons crossed with Battlestar Galactica (the shiny and silly '70s version, not the gritty 2004 reboot) – and a dash of Thunderbird 4 for good measure – it's one of three prototypes built in the late 1980s by Boeing engineers before the project was cancelled.

Unlike previous and mostly laughable 'flying cars' which were more like a regular vehicle with clip-on wings, the Sky Commuter was designed from the ground up as a jet for day-to-day personal use  – an aviation equivalent of the Volkswagen, if you will.

A gas turbine engine drove three fans via a helicopter-based driveshaft for vertical take-off and landing...

... with the thrust exiting the exhaust pushing the Sky Commuter along the ground or through the air.

The vehicle could theoretically cruise at around 135kph (85mph) over a range of 360km (225 miles).

We stress "theoretically" because despite claims by its creators that the Sky Commuter made several successful test flights there are no photos, no film footage and no witnesses outside the company.

Listed for auction at Barret-Jackson, it sold for US$71,500 (A$95,000) – even allowing for the fact that it lacked an engine.

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About David Flynn

David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

Source: Boeing Sky Commuter 'flying car' prototype sells for over $70,000

Government okayed support for flying car development

BRATISLAVA-based company AeroMobil R&D, which is engaged in the development of a flying car, will be granted investment assistance of nearly €6 million from state coffers towards research and development activities, according to a proposal tabled by the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry that was approved by the government on July 1.

The Slovak AeroMobil company has been presenting its flying car of the same name at international expositions recently, raising considerable interest. The prototype road-worthy aircraft – a vehicle that can be converted from an automobile to an aircraft – was designed by Štefan Klein, who worked on the concept for more than a quarter century. Klein first flew the AeroMobil in 2013 and has been testing the capabilities of the flying car in the skies above Nitra almost daily since then. The first vehicle is planned to go on the market in 2017 – at a price comparable to luxury cars.

As a car, the AeroMobil fits into any standard parking space, uses regular petrol and can be used in road traffic like any other car. As an aircraft, it can take off from and land at any airport in the world, paved surfaces or even a grass strip a few hundreds metres long.

The company will use the assistance towards two projects worth €8.34 million to be conducted over 2015-17. The company has allocated €2.34 million from its own resources towards the projects. These are expected to create 43 new job opportunities in the field of research and development.

AeroMobil R&D was set up in March 2015 and is focused on research and experimental development in the area of natural and technical sciences and interdisciplinary research.

2. Jul 2015 at 6:40  |  Compiled by Spectator staff

Source: Government okayed support for flying car development

Flying car’ hits ramp, crashes into house

© Supplied Witnesses from KwaMakhutha in Durban described how a car flew off the road and crashed into a house. (Supplied, ER24)

Durban – A car flew off the road and crashed into a house in KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, on Thursday morning, said ER24.

The driver of the vehicle said he drove over a "ramp" before crashing into the roof of the house, ER24 spokesperson Pieter Rossouw said.

One person was sleeping in the house and was woken up by the car crashing through the roof.

ER24 paramedics arrived on scene to find that the driver and occupant of the house were not injured.

The cause of the accident is still unknown, Rossouw said.

Source: Flying car' hits ramp, crashes into house

Government okayed support for flying car development

BRATISLAVA-based company AeroMobil R&D, which is engaged in the development of a flying car, will be granted investment assistance of nearly €6 million from state coffers towards research and development activities, according to a proposal tabled by the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry that was approved by the government on July 1.

The Slovak AeroMobil company has been presenting its flying car of the same name at international expositions recently, raising considerable interest. The prototype road-worthy aircraft – a vehicle that can be converted from an automobile to an aircraft – was designed by Štefan Klein, who worked on the concept for more than a quarter century. Klein first flew the AeroMobil in 2013 and has been testing the capabilities of the flying car in the skies above Nitra almost daily since then. The first vehicle is planned to go on the market in 2017 – at a price comparable to luxury cars.

As a car, the AeroMobil fits into any standard parking space, uses regular petrol and can be used in road traffic like any other car. As an aircraft, it can take off from and land at any airport in the world, paved surfaces or even a grass strip a few hundreds metres long.

The company will use the assistance towards two projects worth €8.34 million to be conducted over 2015-17. The company has allocated €2.34 million from its own resources towards the projects. These are expected to create 43 new job opportunities in the field of research and development.

AeroMobil R&D was set up in March 2015 and is focused on research and experimental development in the area of natural and technical sciences and interdisciplinary research.

2. Jul 2015 at 6:40  |  Compiled by Spectator staff

Source: Government okayed support for flying car development

Flying car’ hits ramp, crashes into house

© Supplied Witnesses from KwaMakhutha in Durban described how a car flew off the road and crashed into a house. (Supplied, ER24)

Durban – A car flew off the road and crashed into a house in KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, on Thursday morning, said ER24.

The driver of the vehicle said he drove over a "ramp" before crashing into the roof of the house, ER24 spokesperson Pieter Rossouw said.

One person was sleeping in the house and was woken up by the car crashing through the roof.

ER24 paramedics arrived on scene to find that the driver and occupant of the house were not injured.

The cause of the accident is still unknown, Rossouw said.

Source: Flying car' hits ramp, crashes into house

Flying Cars in Two Years? Stop Buying the Hype

"The future is here! Get to work like George Jetson!" It seems like every six months, a new company claims to have created a flying car that will finally make production. And every time, we're left waiting for it to come. "Fool me once…" I think is how the saying starts.

From the Terrafugia to the AeroMobil, flying cars have been in a perpetual state of testing for years. That's only natural, as the technology required to deliver a personal flying/driving vehicle that costs less than the GDP of Liechtenstein will take a long time to get right. Items like power storage, and lightweight materials are only now becoming available in a way that companies can even build prototypes, and even those proofs of concept have mixed track records.

PHOTOS: See More Images of the 2014 AeroMobil 3.0

Take the AeroMobil, for example. In March, we reported that it would be available by 2017, though we weren't holding our breath. That skepticism was well earned, and proved right in May, when an AeroMobil prototype crashed in Slovakia. There were no serious injuries, thankfully, and testing will continue. But ready by 2017? Don't count on it.

And that's just the thing-you could swap in a number of company names for the headline, "(Company Name) Promises Flying Car in Just Two Years." First it was the X-Hawk, then it was the Moller Skycar, followed by Terrafugia. And every time these companies promised a flying car, the press (including us) would hop on it like a mouse on a particularly smelly hunk of gouda. But why do we keep falling for it?

PHOTOS: See More Photos of the 2012 Terrafugia Transition

Despite all the reasons for people to be skeptical, it is one of the very definitions of having arrived in the future. The visions of highways through the sky have been beaten into us for years. From the Jetsons to Back to the Future II, personal flying vehicles were supposed to be the mark of progress. Just look at the magazine clipping below.

But the future we longed for is a little more subtle than that. Smartphones, medical advancements, and autonomous cars are the real-world examples of our progress. They're definitely not as glamorous as the idea of a Lexus that hovers, though.

RELATED: Past Dreams of a Flying Car for your Daily Commute

The fact is, none of these vehicles will be ready any time soon. A company MAY get the technology right, but there are the monolithic hurdles of price, infrastructure, and regulation. Even if a company gets the price down to the hundreds of thousands (Maserati-branded flying car anyone?), the FAA and NHTSA will make it very difficult to own and operate these vehicles. Hell, we have a hard enough time driving on roads without the occasional fender-bender. You want to trust the driving public with amounts to a small plane? We should be thankful that these flying cars won't be available any time soon.

Which brings us back to the constant news coverage of something that doesn't deliver. It's like we completely forget the failures (and unfulfilled promises) of the past. The press should be a little more responsible in conveying the hurdles of bringing such a vehicle to market, rather than regurgitate a press release about how I'll be getting around town like Blade Runner.

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Source: Flying Cars in Two Years? Stop Buying the Hype