Where's my flying car? Coming in for a landing soon

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., - Sebastian Thrun is considered one of the true fathers of modern self-driving car technology...So what's he doing now, the man who may be the world's top expert on self-driving cars? He's CEO of Kitty Hawk, working on bringing you your "flying car" -- or e-VTOL as many prefer to call them. (Like robocars, a name will have to be settled on.) Most people are quite skeptical, as they were when I started preaching robocars in 2007, Brad Templeton reported for Forbes.

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The Intelligent Aerospace take:

March 7, 2019 -A lot of industry players - big and small, new and old - are investing time, money, and engineering know-how into vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) electric and hybrid-electric personal aviation systems (PAS) or air taxis. Earlier this year, Bell Helicopter unveiled its "Nexus" air taxi at the Consumer Electronics Show, and start-up company Opener says it will be selling its Black Fly all-electric VTOL this year.

While more resembling a large "drone" than a car, these flyers are now technologically proven. However, while Tempelton says regulators are on-board with getting them to market, plenty of rules and laws need to be changed or established before the sky is filled with commuters buzzing into work rather than driving down the highway.

Related: Flying taxis to usher in networks of skyports, cost savings over traditional infrastructure

Related: Bell and Moog ink deal on VTOL flight control actuation system for Bell's Air Taxi

Related: Bell Helicopter unveils 'Nexus' air taxi at CES

Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace

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