![]() ![]() Moller’s own work has never generated the kind of market interest like today’s eVTOL vehicles. Harnessing electric-VTOL (eVTOL) technology with battery propulsion systems, these current vehicles are sleek and bug-like, not saucers or cars with haphazard wings. The modern would-be flying car players owe a debt to Moller, who in the 1990s, before any of these companies existed, led the pack with his designs for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles-the de facto model for these aircrafts today. Yet, more than a century after Curtis and his Autoplane, no inventor or company, no matter how well capitalized, has succeeded in developing a commercial flying vehicle. In total, there are more than 200 startups vying for their own spot in the air-car industry. They’re all engaged in a high-stakes race to conquer urban airspace, with a recent Morgan Stanley report predicting that the market for autonomous urban aircrafts could reach $1.5 trillion by 2040, though its authors later tempered their enthusiasm to $1 trillion. Today’s most high-profile flying-car aspirants-publicly traded companies that have raised billions of dollars to achieve FAA approval-include Archer Aviation, eHang, Joby Aviation, and Lilium, as well as the still privately held Wisk Aero (controlled by the aerospace giant Boeing). In 1917, Glenn Curtis won a patent for his Autoplane, a Jeep-like vehicle with airplane wings attached, earning him the title of “father of the flying car.” Twenty years later, two broken ankles and a history of crashing couldn’t keep aviation engineer Waldo Waterman from trying to reach the sky in his Arrowplane. Almost immediately after the Wright Brothers’ success in 1903, the image of taking our cars and heading skyward has found a place in our imaginations. Moller is hardly the first inventor bent on making flying cars a reality, but he’s likely the one person who’s been at it the longest. The only real giveaway are the decades of additional experience he now has about the dream-his dream-to get a car into the sky. He still speaks like he did back in 1988-with relentless optimism. ![]() His appearance alone offers few clues that Moller is now 85 years old. His hair, combed back, looks only slightly grayer than in the news reel. Once the passengers arrive at the station, they can proceed to their destination in the pod.Ī number of similar projects are also in the pipeline around the world, including in the US and India, and will await results of the first tests on the Tel Aviv line.Today, 34 years later, Moller wears smaller, frameless glasses. SkyTran passengers will be able to order a pod from a particular station in advance. The skyTran pods are to be able to achieve speeds of up to 70km/h, though IAI hopes they will be able to achieve faster speeds once they are rolled out commercially. IAI hopes its small test track will pave the way for future skyTrans, according to the BBC. Whether people are comfortable with the idea of travelling through the air with nothing holding them up but the flow of electricity through a magnet being a potential stumbling block, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is going ahead with its development of the electromagnetic skyTran.Įach carriage will be able to hold two people and is aimed at being a future transportation service that will offer a cleaner and faster solution than street traffic on the ground. The city of Tel Aviv, Israel, may have an electromagnetic monorail suspend its own network of flying cars mid-air along a 500-metre track by the end of 2015. ![]()
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