For much of this week, tech news sites and reports seem to genuinely care about one topic — Microsoft’s vaunted release of their new-generation operating system, Windows Vista. While the operating system may be a large-scale revamp touting the "new way of computing", I would, instead, argue that there is a more revolutionary concept out there that barely made itself into the face of news, amidst barrage of "Vista this" or "Vista that". To many of you, I am sure you have heard one story or another of a flying car development. The concept is rather straightforward — a vehicle in the shape of a car can lift itself an incremental height above the ground. So what makes this mention special?
Urban Aeronautics, a privately owned aeronautics company, embraced the over-dreamt concept of a flying car and approached it from a different angle. While flying vehicles might seem like a cool concept and a great thing to play around with (I wouldn’t mind having one), the guys at Urban Aeronautics wanted to help out in emergency and defense situations in which other hover-crafts are not suited to work. In those conditions, X-Hawk, its preliminary name of the flying car, can come to the rescue. Quite simply, the flying car was initially intended for need — not for luxury. That has been the stated purpose — somehow, I think this will change.
More specifically, the X-Hawk and its smaller companion, the Mule, are Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) crafts. This concept is certainly not new — the ordinary helicopter is a VTOR craft as well that can go up and down without forward movement. Thinking architecturally, though, the helicopter’s design can be a great liability. With exposed rotors, bulky design, and general loud nature, the ordinary helicopter is far from ideal in most situations in which rescue is needed. Instead, VTOL crafts allow non-exposed "rotorless" design along with dampened sound so as to make silent and smooth flight. "Medical emergencies arrive without regard to location or time" mentioned an excerpt on their X-Hawk design webpage. "Unfortunately, emergency medical teams don’t have the same luxury. Both location and time are factors that can hamper their effectiveness."
While news on the X-Hawk has been sparsely heard amongst the public ears over the past few years, Urban Aeronautics noted officially that its preliminary VTOL crafts were able to achieve vertical takeoff. Granted, it’s only three feet, but the first step in that direction is very encouraging. In addition, current designs of the VTOL craft are temperamentally compliant with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines, making use within the United States possible.
Dr. Rafi Yoeli, founder and CEO of Urban Aeronautics, envisioned this versatile vehicle we now know as a flying car. Ever since working at Boeing and Israel Aircraft Industries, Yoeli was fascinated with flight. His drive to create the next-generation flying car was fueled largely by the events taking place in the last couple of years. The vehicle, as a result, should be available for specified uses by 2010.
My Take:
I have to admit, flying cars is a neat concept especially if it can be used towards a good cause. While finding alternative power is really the next biggest task for the automotive industry, finding more innovative ways to power vehicles eventually for mainstream consumers is a welcoming idea.
And look at what good this concept can work to. If there is a burning building, the car can get very close without having the liability of huge exposed rotors near the structures. If there were a flood, you could rescue victims more easily with no worries on architectural limitations that may come about from a helicopter. And if someone is stranded in a mountain side, where a helicopter has no chance of flying near, a flying car can approach gliding into rescue.
I also think of this in a larger sense of where technology is going. There seem to be three main tendencies of latest gadgets and inventions — increasingly smaller incarnations of mainstream products, innovative ways so humans work less, and lastly but probably most importantly, integration of concepts. A flying car is definitely in line with the latest integration movement that we see more often today as the way of the future. As I noted in my previous article about the Apple iPhone, it’s the manufacturer’s ability to bring everything together into one convenient device that makes the product truly unique and useful to the mainstream user.
And so today, we have a flying car — arguably, a combination of the traditional motor vehicle and the helicopter. Maybe those who cynically laughed after watching a recent General Motors (GM) commercial may, in reality, see what exactly they so eagerly dismissed. In a few years, in fact, we may see the flying car saving the day.
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