Are there Flying Cars in our future?

 (Published in ENRICH Magazine, 2021)

PILOTLESS "FLYING CARS" soaring above terrestrial city traffic jams and an interplanetary rocket that can zoom passengers from New York City to Shanghai, China in a scant 40 minutes are set to redefine short- and long-distance air travel over the next two decades.

The need for convenience is driving this ongoing revolution in on-demand air mobility. Long a staple of science fiction and futuristic cartoons like The Jetsons, flying cars will eventually transform the way people commute, work and live within the latter half of this century.

But the first generation flying cars set to ferry their first passengers within this decade look nothing like the sleek and gravity-defying flying cars of fiction, such as "spinners" in the 2017 Hollywood movie, Blade Runner 2049.

The brave first steps into the flying car future are being taken by aviation and tech startups in China and Europe eager to get their self-flying cars, or intelligent aerial vehicles, into commercial service within this decade.

In the process, these companies are on the road to realizing Jules Verne’s prediction of a flying car he made in his dark novel, Master of the World, published in 1904.

Jules Verne's Terror flying car

Verne's hybrid flying "Transformer," which he named "Terror," is a 10 meter-long vehicle that can turn into an aircraft, automobile, speedboat and submarine. Verne wrote Terror has a land speed of 240 km/h and more than 320 km/h in flight, which were speeds considered science fiction back in 1904.

Verne's book written in French saw print less than a year after the Wright Brothers' first powered flight of the Wright Flyer heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903.

Pilotless electric air taxis

These revolutions in short- and long-distance air travel should come to fruition before the 2050s are out. Flying cars, however, will enter commercial service before Starship does.

The challenge facing today's flying car firms is making their autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) safe and reliable "air taxis." Practically all flying cars in development are autonomous or pilotless helicopters powered by anywhere from four to 36 electric motors. Hence, the technical name "eVTOL" or electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft appended to them. These aircraft are also called personal helicopters, among others.

Only a few flying cars like the PAL-V Liberty Pioneer from Dutch firm PAL-V resemble a wheeled passenger car with wings. Most of the rest, such as the German "Lilium Jet," the Chinese "EHang EH216" and Japan's "SkyDrive SD-03" are eVTOL smart aerial drones powered by multiple electric motors.

Lilium Jet

Many of the eVTOLs now under development by more than 20 firms worldwide are designed as autonomous urban air taxis for inter-city and intra-city flights that banish the need for road travel with all its pitfalls.

Taking the lead in the race to commercialize flying cars as air taxis are startups in Germany and China. Among the most dedicated are the German firm Lilium GmbH and Beijing Yi-Hang Creation Science & Technology Co., Ltd., better known as EHang.

Both startups have been at it for more than five years with Lilium planning to launch its on-demand air taxi and ride-sharing service using its 36-motor Lilium Jet in 2025. It will launch this service in New York City.

The five-seat commuter plane was first flight tested at Oberpfaffenhofen airfield near Munich. After 100 flights, Lilium Jet transitioned from vertical to horizontal flight in October 2019, reaching over 100 km/h. Lilium calls its AAV the "world's five-seater, all-electric, vertical take-off and landing jet."

Lilium Jet aims to become the world's first on-demand air taxi and ride-sharing air aircraft by 2025. This eVTOL can travel 300 kilometers in 60 minutes at 300 km/h. It seats four passengers and a pilot.

Lilium Jet is unique because it relies completely on 100% renewable electric power for propulsion. Lilium said its jet is the only electric plane capable of both vertical take-off and jet-powered flight.

One of the oldest firms in the game is German startup Volocopter GmbH, whose first flying car made its first flight in November 2013. The latest iteration of the company's eVTOL, the Volocopter 2X, was one of the centers of attention at the April 2021 Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition.

Volocopter 2X is a two-seat, optionally-piloted, multi-rotor eVTOL. Volocopter eVTOLs have established a reputation for safety and low noise due to their rotor design.

The small size of rotor blades is the key reason for the low noise generated by Volocopter 2X. Flying at an altitude of 100 meters, passengers can hardly hear the sounds of the rotors turning.

Chinese and Japanese air cars

EHang planned to launch the world's first autonomous air taxi -- the two-seat EHang EH216 -- in Guangzhou, China in 2020 but postponed this milestone due to the COVID-19 outbreak and internal problems.

The EH216 drone taxi is being touted by EHang as the key to its global urban air mobility ambitions. It will serve as a passenger transport, take passengers on aerial sightseeing tours, and conduct aerial logistics flights.

The EH216 aerial taxi has a maximum speed of 160 km/h and a cruising speed of 130 km/h. It can reach out to 16 km. The aircraft is designed to carry a pilot and a passenger and is powered by eight electric motors driving 16 propellers.

EHang 216 flying car

In February 2021, EHang said the EH216 had conducted over 10,000 flights in over 40 Chinese and foreign cities. The Civil Aviation Administration of China in April 2021 established a type certificate team to evaluate EH216.

In November 2020, EHang flew a demonstrator EH216 air taxi in Seoul and other South Korean cities. The EH216 successfully flew for seven minutes at an altitude of 50 meters above Seoul.

It was the first time an pilotless eVTOL developed for use as an air taxi has flown above Seoul. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to launch an air taxi service in Seoul as early as 2025.

It plans to open 10 air taxi terminals nationwide by 2030. South Korea is developing a "K-drone traffic management system" to manage eVTOLs flying along its new aerial highways.

In 2017, Dubai should have been the first country to launch an air taxi service along with EHang. The Chinese startup partnered with Dubai's Road & Transportation Agency in 2017 to launch a hover taxi service starting later that year but nothing came of this project and it was later abandoned.

 Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng or Xiaopeng Motors unveiled a prototype of a flying car at the 2020 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in September and plans to see a maiden test flight by the second half of 2021.

The still unnamed flying car now in the concept phase has eight propellers and can carry two passengers. It's designed for low altitude flights of only five to 25 meters above the ground.

Another company that plans to launch its own flying car is two year-old Japanese startup SkyDrive. The company received a huge boost in August 2020 with a $36 million investment from 10 companies, which include Japanese tech multinational NEC Corporation and major trading firm, Itochu Corporation.

The money has gone to further the development of its eVTOL, the SkyDrive SD-03, which is also the world's smallest eVTOL. SD-03 conducted its first successful public test flight in Tokyo in August 2020. The single-seat eVTOL measures 2 meters in height by 4 meters in both width and length. SkyDrive intends to launch its flying car in Japan by 2023.

SkyDrive SD-03 prototype

SD-03 is designed as a coupé "embodying dreams and exuding charisma," said the company. Its exterior is pearl white. a color chosen because it represents white birds and floating clouds.  SkyDrive hopes SD-03 will become the "people's partner in the sky" rather than merely a commodity like a car.

Some of the other startups involved in the flying car race:

* Joby Aviation based in California is developing a five-seater air taxi eVTOL it claims will enter commercial service in 2024. Its eVTOLs will initially provide air taxi services to airports. A trip from Manhattan to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York will cost from $30 to $40 per passenger.

In December 2020, Joby acquired Uber Elevate, the flying-car business of ride-hailing giant, Uber Technologies, Inc, to advance its air txi service.  It plans to open air taxi networks in Los Angeles and Miami by 2024.

The Joby eVTOL will be a four-passenger commercial aircraft with a pilot and three passengers. It can reach up to 240 km on a single charge at a top speed of 320 km/h. Near-silent in flight, the Joby air taxi will be 100 times quieter during takeoff and landing than a helicopter. Joby has a $1 billion deal to supply United Airlines and a partner airline with 200 of its eVTOLs.

* Unlike most other flying cars, the PAL-V Liberty Pioneer (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) looks like a car but with wings attached. PAL-V is a car and gyroplane combination aircraft called the "world's first flying car." 

Dutch firm PAL-V based in Raamsdonksveer, The Netherlands, said the "PAL-V Liberty is a groundbreaking product that inaugurates the age of the flying car. The PAL-V Liberty is a marriage between safety and fun, designed to satisfy the most demanding customers."

This hybrid is a compact two-person aircraft that can travel on public roads. The PAL-V Liberty Pioneer first flew in March 2012 and began being marketed in February 2017. The production model was first shown to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland in March 2018.

The world's first passenger spaceship

And there's the revolutionary Starship/Super Heavy interplanetary rocket currently being developed by SpaceX to take people to Mars. SpaceX, however, intends to make money off Starship by turning this rocket into a commercial passenger spaceship flying to select countries at record-breaking speed.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is pushing ahead with his grand dream of transforming Starship into the world's fastest passenger aircraft. Traveling at more than hypersonic speed, or beyond Mach 5 (6,000 km/h), Starship will cover the 12,000 km distance from New York City to Shanghai in a breath-taking 40 minutes compared to the 15 hours on today's passenger jets.

"Fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins and anywhere in under 60," boasted Musk back in 2017 about Starship's "earth-to-earth" flights.

Starship, which is designed to transport up to 100 persons to Mars per trip by the decade of the 2030s or 2040s, will fly 100 paying passengers to distant destinations on our planet. Starship will take-off and land at massive launch/landing sites converted from oil drilling rigs that float on the ocean.

Starship Super Heavy rocket from SpaceX

In June 2020, Musk tweeted SpaceX planned to build “floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth.”

At launch, Super Heavy (or the first stage booster) lugs more than nine million pounds of liquid fuel. It generates dangerous sonic booms and vibrations when it takes-off and lands, making it necessary to move launch pads onto the ocean for the safety of people and infrastructure nearby.

Musk said SpaceX plans to launch and land Starship/Super Heavy several times a day when its space and earth-to-earth transport business goes into high gear over the next two decades.