This self-driving car has no steering wheel or pedals. Uber and Hyundai unveil flying taxi. This Mercedes-Benz concept car has no steering wheel. German start-up unveils flying taxi prototype. This ton truck is driving itself on public roads. These concept tires could help cars fly.
See Boeing's autonomous flying car take flight. The VW team rounded out the design. The imaginary car stays aloft with the aid of magnetic levitation, much the way some maglev trains travel along special rails using electromagnetic suspension. Other maglev trains use electromagnetic forces for propulsion without actually lifting the train off the ground. The Shanghai Maglev Train has been ferrying passengers since on a kilometer line between Pudong International Airport and the city's outskirts at speeds of up to kilometers per hour.
Magnets on board and in the track lift the train between eight and 12 millimeters, depending on how much electrical current is used.
What keeps maglev vehicles from gaining widespread use is the need to set up an infrastructure of electromagnetic rails and roads.
In their video, Volkswagen designers envision a scenario where magnetic iron rock or ore beneath Chengdu help create the car's levitation; alternatively, the minerals could be mined and mixed in with the tarmac. As portrayed in the video see below , the vehicle would be about two meters in diameter and about 1. In the video, Jia's parents take the wheel-shaped hover car out for a spin through Chengdu. They show us what cars could, conceivably, be one day.
So don't get too excited about this Hover car Concept from Volkswagen. Well, maybe get a little excited. It is a hover car, after all.
Volkswagen, which translates to "people's car" in English, challenged China residents to submit their ideas of what the car of the future should look like. These specifications aim to address the unique characteristics of flying cars, and detail airworthiness standards like emergency exits, lightning protection, landing gear systems and pressurised cabins.
Clearly, the successful operation of VTOLs will require coordinated efforts across sectors, including government, technology, transportation, urban planning and public outreach. What accounts for the sudden proliferation of VTOL developers? Global trends like the rise of e-commerce, climate change, the gig economy and an integrated supply chain have accelerated interest in personal air travel, while failures in our current infrastructure and related industries underscore its necessity.
As cities like New York, Hong Kong and Beijing reach capacity, urban living becomes less and less sustainable — yet our increasingly interconnected economy demands constant mobility. The effects could transform commuting, and living, as we know it. Owning a VTOL could become as affordable and ubiquitous as owning a bicycle.
Increasing numbers of flying cars will naturally give rise to a changing layout in the way our cities are structured as cities grow taller, rooftop landings expand and air highways connect super sky-scrapers, freeing up space below. Fewer cars on the ground will reduce congestion and may give rise to parks and green spaces. VTOLs have vast implications for the future of transport, work-life, consumption, urban design, even healthcare and ecology.
As soon as , consumers might be able to press a button and order an air taxi straight to their cloud-tethered office. In the decades that follow, we may ultimately have fewer and fewer reasons to descend to the earth below, conducting our business and our lives atop a city in the sky.
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