Flying cars have long been a reality in science fiction and fantasy films, and experts say people should expect big changes.
Look, higher in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…a car?
Flying cars have been a staple of sci-fi and fantasy films for ages. “Blade Runner,” “Back to the Future,” “The Fifth Element,” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” are just a few of the many flicks that feature a set of wheels that can roll out of the garage and climb into the sky.
Don’t Miss: Elon Musk Reveals Tesla’s Future
But these are just movies, right? Well, maybe not. New research suggests that this distant future may be closer than many of us think.
By 2030, Evtol – electric vertical take-off and landing – could provide a safe, affordable and sustainable means of travel and represents a multi-billion dollar market opportunity, according to the consultancy. McKinsey & Co.
Urban and advanced air mobility, a sector that includes Evtol aircraft, saw record funding in 2021, McKinsey said, with nearly $6.9 billion in new investment. Funding cooled in 2022, in part due to macroeconomic conditions, but remained ahead of the pace of the pandemic.
Of course, no mention of flying cars would be complete without them “The Jetsons,” the Hanna-Barbera animated sitcom which was broadcast from September 23, 1962 until March 17, 1963, and depicted a world where flying cars were the only way to drive.
“Safety is our priority”: Jetson One
Jetson is also the name of a Swedish company that recently released its first flying car, the Jetson One, for sale at $98,000.
This is a little cheaper than Tesla (TSLA) – Get a free reportModel X. And you don’t have to worry about traffic jams.
“We aim to make the skies accessible to everyone with our safe personal electric aerial vehicle,” the company said on its website.
The aluminum and carbon fiber aircraft is powered by eight electric motors, has a top speed of about 63 mph (101 km/h), and a flight time of about 20 minutes. The company says that users do not need licenses to fly the aircraft in the United States.
Declaring that “safety is our priority,” Jetson said its flying plane has a race-car-inspired safety cell that protects the pilot.
The company said the Jetson 1 could sustain a continuous flight with the loss of one engine. It has an automatic landing function and “multiple safety features to protect the pilot in the event of an emergency.”
Jetson has competitors.
Seattle startup Jetoptera said its vision is to “create a world where air mobility is commonplace.” It’s working on a vertical take-off and landing aircraft that will be capable of speeds of Mach 0.8, which is about 614 mph.
In January, Aska of Los Altos, California, showed off its Evtol aircraft at the Consumer Electronics Show conference. .
So what would this brave new world of flying vehicles look like?
Big challenges for the flying car industry
A study in the Informs Journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management notes, “The multibillion-dollar industry needed to make flying cars a reality has the potential to solve societal problems and develop a new revenue stream for the United States and other economies.”
But the researchers cautioned that it is one thing to have vehicles capable of “urban air mobility”, and another to make the societal changes necessary for the normal use of such vehicles.
“The technologies are already in place to build and operate the types of vehicles that can transport people around urban areas as part of a normal routine,” said Vikrant Vaz, a professor at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering.
“But the significant challenges focus on envisioning and establishing the type of transport infrastructure, systems and protocols that will enable a safe and seamless transition to urban air mobility,” he said in a statement.
The study authors point to cities, operators, and agencies — such as New Zealand, Singapore, NASA, and several airlines — that are already investing heavily in UAM to develop electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles and UAM systems and networks.
“The challenge is to create a dedicated infrastructure for vehicles to take off and land,” Fayez said. “We will need to create flight corridors and ‘roads’ that are not very different from existing transportation systems built around roads paved on the ground, shipping lanes in the ocean, or air corridors used by aircraft.”
And even when flying cars become the norm, they won’t solve all of our problems.
George Jetson had a flying car and was dragged under a treadmill every week.