Airbus Wants To Test Self-Flying Car by End of 2017

[brooklynite]

Source: FlyerTalk

Airbus wants to improve metropolitan transportation options with the use of a self-flying “air taxi,” which could be in testing by the end of this year. Reuters reports the company announced the development of the self-flying car at the DLD technology conference in Munich, with the goal of going off the ground before 2017 comes to a close.

“One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground, now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground,” Airbus chief Tom Enders told attendees, according to Reuters. “If we ignore these developments, we will be pushed out of important segments of the business.”

The aircraft is being developed by Urban Air Mobility, a division of the French manufacturer founded in 2016. The division has quietly been working on several different projects to increase transportation options in the world’s megacities, including the self-flying car project. Named “CityAirbus,” the initiative calls for helicopter-like aircraft to autonomously fly passengers between destinations within a city.



Read more: http://www.flyertalk.com/articles/airbus-wants-to-test-self-flying-car-by-end-of-2017.html

[DemoTex]

1. V-22 Osprey on steroids.

I forsee a lot of smoking holes on the cityscape.

[Duppers]

3. As a pilot, you know their track record.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Good One, Tex!

They'll have one by the end of 2017. It will cost them 28 million to build it and then they'll predict affordability in 3 years.

This is sci-fi stuff. I'll believe it when i see it.

[Bayard]

2. WOOT!

When will those become affordable?

[Duppers]

4. Probably not in my lifetime, Bayard.

I don't even like copters. Planes, yes.

[hunter]

6. That's among the most undesirable forms of personal transportation I can imagine.

Let's see, it can fall out of the sky onto anyone.

It's got propellers that can chop people up, or break, throwing broken blades at people.

It uses huge amounts of energy.

Only wealthy people can afford to use it.

It's a machine that flips over and crashes if any computer or mechanical control systems fail.

Wealthy people flying above the heads of the dispossessed has always been a feature of science fiction dystopias.

Etc..

I know, I know, no matter what Airbus says, this is a "concept" vehicle like you might see at a car show, something to generate buzz, and a test bed for new technology. It might even become a toy for people taking their quadcopter hobbies to extremes. Woohoo! One big enough to ride in!

Walking is the ultimate form of transportation. We ought to be transforming our cities into places where automobiles are unnecessary.

Sailboats and bicycles top the list of transportation technologies. (If you think these are not high technology machines you haven't been paying attention.)

Subways and other forms of electric public transportation are mighty fine too.

Here's something I'll bet you haven't seen before, a gyrocopter that jumps straight up:

[brooklynite]

7. This says nothing about the economics...

...what's the basis of your assertion that "only wealthy people can use it"?

[hunter]

8. How many ordinary working Americans could afford a new Tesla?

There's no way this machine could sell for less than that.

Flying is an expensive hobby, even for simple robust technologies like hot air balloons and ultralights.

[brooklynite]

9. This is not an ownership model; it's an aerial taxi.

[hunter]

10. Rough crowd here... It is a cool machine.