Buzz on flying cars ahead of show
Will flying cars take off at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show? Well, sort of.
The prototypes won’t be soaring over the Las Vegas Strip during the technology extravaganza between January 8 and 11, but a number of flying car designs will be on display, portending what many see as an inevitable airborne future for short-range transport with vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL.
NFT Inc co-founders Maki and Guy Kaplinsky, a couple developing a flying vehicle in Israel and California, will have their vision on display at show, with a media session on Sunday.
“We believe we have a winning design that will enable us to make the Model T of flying cars; a low-cost production model,” Guy Kaplinsky said in a Silicon Valley office park where a prototype model was being assembled.
A doorway to the rear of the NFT office in Mountain View opened onto large blue tarps hung from the ceiling to hide the workshop. A team of veteran aviation engineers is focused on research at the startup’s facility in Israel, and the founders plan to expand the staff of 15. The startup is designing hardware and software, while enlisting original equipment manufacturers to crank out products at scale.
“We learned from Tesla that Elon Musk spent too much time on the production side,” Kaplinsky said. “We’re spending our time on the technology side and will partner with companies on assembly.”
The NFT vehicle with a projected price tag of $50,000 (about R705,000) will function as a car, but be able to take off or land vertically and fly on auto-pilot.
Several companies, including Uber and start-ups backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, are working on people-carrying drones or similar flying vehicles.
In Japan, volunteers in a “Cartivator” group are out to build a “Skydrive” flying car and have set their sights on using one to light the flame at the opening of the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020. The crowdfunded effort has gotten backing from Japanese auto giant Toyota, where some Cartivator members work.
A scaled-down replica of “Toyota’s flying car” is to be shown at CES. “Our team consists of people with diverse professional backgrounds and is working hard towards developing the flying car,” the group said on a website.
“We aim to build a prototype, establish theory of flight control, and form alliances with major corporations to make mass production of the flying car a reality.”
NFT is working to marry a plane with a car, meaning no airports or heliports would be needed. “We believe door-todoor is the solution,” Kaplinsky said.
“Our approach is more for the mom and three kids; you load everyone in the car one time and go where you need to go.”
A smartphone mapping application could be paired to a navigation centre hosted in the internet cloud, routing drivers to takeoff points and providing instructions to auto-pilots in cars.
The electric powered NFT vehicle is targeting ranges of 500km flying and 100km driving.