Imagine a monolithic, egg-shaped flying car whose surface splits to let you enter and fly it around Luxembourg - where it points out historic architecture and allows you to explore the city via a steering wheel that emerges from the dashboard.... You know what? You'd better watch the video below. Words just can't describe all the awesomeness contained in the futuristic Aeon Project flying car. We're talking 3D navigation apps and tourist apps that allow you to explore ruins or rebuild roman temples at the touch of the windshield. Don't get it? Like we said, watch the video, or click through our gallery for a better idea.
Robert A. Heinlein’s lost first novel For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs, featured egg-shaped ‘flying cars’ that had collapsible wings for fixed-wing flight as well as retractable helicopter-style rotors for take off. Ford experimented with flying cars in the 50′s. When Ford approached the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about regulatory issues, the critical problem was that the (then) known forms of air traffic control were inadequate for the volume of traffic Ford proposed. Other problems would also need to be resolved in some ways, however, including intoxicated pilots or pilots that drive/fly without a license. Standards would have to be agreed upon by the international community, such as air miles being translated to nautical miles and not affecting the reading of an odometer. Ultimate concerns of flying cars include public safety in built up urban areas, that malfunctioning or incorrectly operated flying cars could crash into houses, shopping districts or pedestrian areas, severely damaging buildings or killing civilians. People today drive old cars with rusty parts, poor breaks and shoddy maintenance and poor servicing and to think that everyday people would be able to maintain flying cars is absurd. The amount of energy it takes to get an object just to hover a few inches off the ground is enormous, never mind getting it several hundred feet or in the stratosphere plus energy for thrust to move it at a high speed. We have problems enough after 9/11 managing thousands of passenger planes, try to imagine millions of smaller passenger vehicles.
when is this going to be available.
The applications used in the heads up display were incredible and can be used in the cars of the future ( next 5 years max) which would revolutionize how we design cars as well as how we can interact with the world around us as we are driving. A car that can drive itself is not as far off as one that can fly so this could be used in those models.
It was very cool to watch. I can see the possibilities.
I worked on some areodymanic co-efficients for an egg shaped vehicle [.03 Cd] with VTOL capabilities.