Flying car appeared in some futuristic movies of the 70s. Now, for the first time, Airbus came with a viable prototype for a flying taxi. The project will came to life around 2020. The combination of car and helicopter will be called Vahana and if we look at the few photos released it will be pretty cool.
In Sanskrit, Vahana means ‘vehicle of the gods’ or more specifically ‘a mythical Hindu creature used as a vehicle by gods’; Airbus began this great project in a collaboration with A3, a startup from Silicon Valley.
About this daring project talks Rodin Lyasoff, the CEO of A3: “Full automation also enables us to make our aircraft as small and light as possible, and will significantly reduce manufacturing costs […] Beyond developing the vehicle itself, we’re seeking to move key technology categories forward, foster development of the regulatory regime for the certification and operation of automated aircraft, and to otherwise nurture an ecosystem that will help enable the vertical cities of the future.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKBYEtvghkc/?tagged=vahana
The CEO of Airbus, Tom Enders, added that he visions a future of flying taxis: “I’m no big fan of Star Wars, but it’s not crazy to imagine that one day our big cities will have flying cars making their way along roads in the sky […] In a not too distant future, we’ll use our smartphones to book a fully automated flying taxi that will land outside our front door – without any pilot.”
While the idea is more or less revolutionary, there are some issues they have to think of like cost of production, cost of each ‘taxi ride’ (each Vahana will have only one seat with a safe way to catapult in case of danger), and the legislation because if these types of vehicles became the norm in a few decades, there is a need for regulation.
However we look at it, flying taxis will only make us more productive in both work and personal life.
