Flying cars may seem futuristic – but from commercial jetpacks to personal air

taxis, they are already here. Here’s how they could transform the way we commute,
work and live.
T
The original Blade Runner film took place in an imagined Los Angeles of 2019, a
futuristic city where acid rain fell from skies crowded with “skimmers”: flying
cars that zipped along aerial highways. Since the film’s 1982 debut, technology has
advanced in ways that Hollywood might never have predicted – selfie sticks, murder
drones, hashtag politics – yet hovercraft taxis still seem a far-off fantasy,
reserved for science-fiction novels and theme park rides.

In fact, flying cars are real – and they could shape how we commute, work and live
in the coming decades. Advances in battery energy density, materials science and
computer simulation have spurred the development of a range of personal flying
vehicles (and the navigation systems that will allow them to run), from electric
gliders to fixed-wing craft and quadcopter drones.

The flying cars shown in 1982 film Blade Runner may still seem like a futuristic
fantasy – but they aren’t (Credit: Alamy)
The flying cars shown in 1982 film Blade Runner may still seem like a futuristic
fantasy – but they aren’t (Credit: Alamy)

These aircraft may not look exactly like Blade Runner’s imaginings. But they aren’t
all that far off. Far smaller than a commercial plane, most are designed with
rotors instead of wings, which allow for vertical takeoff and landing. Tilt rotors,
for example, allow for efficiency in forward flight at longer distances, while
multirotors are designed to reduce noise in hover flight. Most important, these
vehicles are designed to offer faster commutes than traditional modes of transit
for individuals, especially in traffic-clogged cities.

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At the moment, the autonomous urban aircraft market is still a bit of a Wild West.
Dozens of start-up companies are competing to develop commercial jetpacks, flying
motorbikes and personal air taxis. Venture capitalists, auto and aviation
corporations (even rideshare company Uber, with its ambitious Uber Elevate) are
staking claims on the burgeoning industry, which may be worth as much as $1.5tn
(£1.1tn) by 2040. Meanwhile, aviation authorities hash out the policies and safety
standards that will govern this new realm of transport.

Zhao Deli rides a flying motorbike, which he built himself, during a test flight in
2019 in China (Credit: Getty Images)
Zhao Deli rides a flying motorbike, which he built himself, during a test flight in
2019 in China (Credit: Getty Images)

Germany-based Volocopter, for instance, has marketed its VoloCity craft as the
first commercially licensed electrically powered air taxi, a vehicle which will
eventually run without a pilot. “It’s like an Uber Black or any other premium
service,” says Fabien Nestmann, vice president of public affairs at Volocopter.

With a few key differences, that is. Initially, the VoloCity will only have room
for a single passenger. That will mean a higher cost per ride at first, but
Volocopter hopes to build consumer confidence before transitioning to a full-
autonomy model: an electric, wingless craft powered by nine batteries, which will
transport passengers throughout a planned network of vertiports – airports for
planes that take off and land vertically – across major cities. VoloCity’s first
commercial flights are scheduled to take place in 2022.

These first flights will cost €300 ($350/£270) per ticket. But eventually, says
Nestmann, the company’s goal is to make the cost competitive with, say, an Uber
Black. “We don’t want this to be a toy for the wealthy, but part of a well-
integrated journey for anyone in an urban area,” he says. “Everyone should have the
option to walk, be driven, cycle, or fly.”

A Volocopter air taxi performs a demonstration in Singapore in October 2019

(Credit: Reuters)
A Volocopter air taxi performs a demonstration in Singapore in October 2019
(Credit: Reuters)

Other companies have partnered with existing car manufacturers to create models
they plan to develop for eventual commercial use. Japanese startup SkyDrive, for
example, recently teamed up with Toyota to conduct a test flight of its all-
electric air taxi, said to be the world’s smallest electric vehicle that can take
off and land from a vertical position. This summer, the company successfully flew
its SD-03 craft for several minutes around an airfield with a pilot at the helm.

“Consumer demand has grown, but humans have not yet provided a clear solution to
traffic, even through options like electric cars or speedy alternatives like
[France’s intercity] TGV train,” says SkyDrive representative Takako Wada. “You
could say SkyDrive mobility has been nurtured by consumption demands as well as by
advances in technology.”

Indeed, those advances makes it possible for so many aircraft designers to clamour
for airtime, as it were. Companies like Lillium, Wisk, Joby Aviation, Bell and
countless others are capitalising on innovations like electric propulsion, which
dramatically reduces noise emissions, and battery power, which enhances range. For
an industry in its infancy, there are no shortage of Vertical Take Off and Landing
(VTOL) designs, or the imaginary heights that might be reached with them.

Consider Gravity Industries, a UK-based aeronautical company that created a 1,050-

horsepower wearable jetpack. “It’s a bit like a Formula One car,” says Richard
Browning, chief test pilot and founder of the company. “The Jetsuit is a specialist
piece of equipment that only trade professionals and military fliers can ride, for
now.” Browning gestures to a metallic, Batman-esque contraption in his studio.
“Someday, the jetpack might mean a hovering super hero paramedic can make decisions
about where to go and what to do.”

In September 2020, Richard Browning of Gravity Industries demonstrated the

company’s flight pack in the Lake District (Credit: GravityIndustries/YouTube/PA
Wire)
In September 2020, Richard Browning of Gravity Industries demonstrated the
company’s flight pack in the Lake District (Credit: GravityIndustries/YouTube/PA
Wire)

This is not as pie-in-the-sky a scheme as it sounds: the Great North Air Ambulance
Service recently partnered with Gravity Industries to simulate a search and rescue
mission. Browning flew in his jetpack from the craggy valley bottom of Langdale
Pikes in England’s Lake District to a staged casualty site. By foot, it would have
been a 25-minute arduous climb.

The flight took 90 seconds. The exercise illustrated the potential of jetpacks to
deliver critical care services to remote locations.
“The dream of air transport has been around for a long time,” says Parimal
Kopardekar, director of Nasa’s Aeronautics Research Institute at the Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley, California. “There’s a powerful opportunity now to design
vehicles that can transport goods and services where current aviation can’t reach.”

Kopardekar is responsible for exploring aviation trends in autonomy and advanced

air mobility, including VTOLs. Given the complexity of this undertaking, the team
at Nasa must address and test an entire ecosystem of factors: aircraft, airspace,
infrastructure, community integration, weather patterns, GPS, noise standards,
maintenance, supply chain, parts acquisition… It’s a list that reveals numerous and
not always obvious problems that must be resolved before aerial ridesharing at
scale can become a reality.

The SD-03, a manned flying car, takes a test flight in Japan in August 2020
(Credit: SkyDrive/Reuters)
The SD-03, a manned flying car, takes a test flight in Japan in August 2020
(Credit: SkyDrive/Reuters)

Reimagining human flight requires vehicles that are “road legal” and safe to fly,
but also a public willing to fly in them. Industry leaders need to convince riders
that VTOLs aren’t compelling simply because the technology is possible, but because
it is preferable to other modes of transport – and safe.

“You cannot offer commercial services without extremely vigorous testing regimes,”
says Nestmann, who oversees Volocopter’s public education initiatives. “Part of
that is developing the infrastructure for these machines.” That might mean hardware
construction of vertiports and storage facilities equipped with electrical power,
or software run behind the scenes: systems needed to run VTOLs will undoubtedly
require near-full automation to properly coordinate the envisioned swarms of
vehicles. While the commercial aircraft we travel on today are monitored by human
controllers in a tower, the flying machines of tomorrow will rely on UTM: Unmanned
Traffic Management. This digital tracking will ensure that all VTOLs have common
awareness of other flights in their path.

Fully automated vertical transport with a proven track record may put the public at
ease, but a vast network of flying objects creates a host of new challenges. VTOLs
will obviate the need for runways or on-the-ground parking, but they will require
dedicated air corridors and sky-harbours to store craft. Air taxis might reduce the
number of cars on the ground and enhance arrival and departure time predictability,
but the sheer number of objects in the sky – buildings, birds, delivery drones and
airplanes – will require pilots (at least, while VTOLs are piloted) to practise a
new kind of dynamic obstacle avoidance. The “Skyway”, for want of a better term,
will need its own set of laws.

Additionally, manufacturers and operators will have to show that no harm will come
either to passengers or to people on the ground below. In concert with the US’s
Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory bodies, Kopardekar and the
team at Nasa created an “Urban Air Mobility Maturity Levels Scale”, which ranks
craft, airspace and other systems on a scale of one to six based on complexity and
urban density. They are devising ways to simplify cockpit operations, with a
combination of automation and contingency management: guidelines for how a VTOL
might respond to bad weather, bird strike, or sudden jetpack intruder, for example.

Already, incidents have shown the importance of these types of guidelines: in

October 2020, crewmembers on a commercial airliner near LAX airport in Los Angeles
spotted a jetpack at 6,000 feet (1,828m) – an altitude that presents serious risk
of collision.

A drone flies in a west London park; as more flying objects are created, safety
guidelines are becoming increasingly crucial (Credit: John Stillwell/PA Wire)
A drone flies in a west London park; as more flying objects are created, safety
guidelines are becoming increasingly crucial (Credit: John Stillwell/PA Wire)

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has also created a set of technical
specifications for VTOLS, though the agency hasn’t quite decided how to certify
them. 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. “Despite having design
characteristics of aeroplanes, rotorcraft or both,” EASA’s statement reads, “in
most cases EASA was not able to classify these new vehicles as being either a
conventional aeroplane or a rotorcraft.” In other words, EASA seems undecided about
what, exactly, separates VTOLS from fixed-wing commercial jets or helicopters.
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. “Right now, most
people optimise living based on access to transportation,” notes Kopardekar. “VTOLs
and drones will make it possible to reach people wherever they are, to optimise
transportation based on living.” Businesses will no longer have to look to central
business districts for their headquarters, while employees may choose to live
anywhere within reach of an air taxi. Owning a VTOL could become as affordable and
ubiquitous as owning a bicycle.

The Hyundai S-A1, which has been designed for Uber Elevate’s urban air travel
service, is displayed in January 2020 (Credit: Robyn Beck/Getty)
The Hyundai S-A1, which has been designed for Uber Elevate’s urban air travel
service, is displayed in January 2020 (Credit: Robyn Beck/Getty)

“On the macro level, ever-growing cities create a growing mobility need from the
citizens in those cities,” says Nestmann. “That leads to a rethinking of the city,
because building everything around the car doesn’t improve life quality.”

Traffic bottlenecks wear down our cities’ highways and the cars we drive on them,
contributing to emissions that in turn threaten our planet’s delicate ecosystems
and our own health. Meanwhile, eVTOLS (which are electric) will dramatically reduce
emissions or reliance on diesel fuel.

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. “In
the long run – 2045 and onward – businesses and green spaces will become much more
integrated,” says Kopardekar. “While we may not ever eliminate metros and roads, we
might be able to reduce their footprint with these machines.”

VTOLs have vast implications for the future of transport, work-life, consumption,
urban design, even healthcare and ecology. As soon as 2030, 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.

“One mile of road can only take you one mile,” says Kopardekar. “One mile of
aviation can take you anywhere.”

--

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(Image credit: CMB)
(Credit: CMB)
By Jocelyn Timperley
30th November 2020
The shipping industry currently emits 3% of all greenhouse gases. To keep
temperatures within safe limits, experts say, it will have to decarbonise. Could
green hydrogen be the answer?
A
Along a stretch of river in northern Belgium, a small ferry is running on a fuel
that many hope could hold the key to decarbonising ships everywhere.

The fuel being tested on Hydroville, a 16-passenger shuttle moving between Kruibeke
and Antwerp, is hydrogen. Hydroville launched three years ago as the world’s first
hydrogen-powered passenger vessel. Its hybrid engine allows it to run on both
hydrogen and diesel.

“We decided for ourselves, look, we have to start with it today, even though there
is no demand yet,” says Roy Campe, managing director at CMB.Tech, the R&D branch of
CMB, Hydroville’s owner. “We have to start today to make certain that within 10
years we can already start producing all our ships on a low-emission level. It's
not a light switch that you just flip over.”