Flying Taxis Might Actually Be A Real Thing Soon!

Remember the flying cars from Back To The Future? Well, that might just be part of our reality soon! Just when we all thought that flying cars or taxis are things that only exist in a sci-fi novel or films, technology has enabled us to make this a reality soon. Chances are that your ride-hailing app will soon have an additional way of transport apart from the usual car or motorcycle — on-demand flights! Imagine this. You are in a hurry to get somewhere and there is a huge traffic jam at that time of the day. What do you do? You book an on-demand flight, go to a designated roof where there is a helipad, and get on a minivan with wings to fly to your destination.

Driving An Air Taxi Virtually

In a recent film-tech-music festival at the South by Southwest, Austin, Texas, a stall set up by the Bell Helicopters tried to show visitors how transportation might be in the future. They had a virtual reality simulation where you could drive a flying taxi. Interestingly, the AI collected data from the driving habits of those who used the simulator so that they can take over later. Now, if that is not straight outta a sci-fi movie, what is?

Flying Cars Are Not A Dream Anymore

Since the start of the twentieth century, scientists have been making several prototypes, and that has even resulted in the birth of the catchphrase, “Where is my flying car?” Obviously, no real flying car has hit the market yet, but experts continue to perfect the technology. Even Henry Ford was interested in making one and did build a single-seater airplane called Sky Flivver. However, the project was abandoned after an accident killed a pilot. Since then, several organizations and companies have been conducting various experiments. In recent times, companies like AeroMobil and Urban Aeronautics have come out with workable models, but they are still under development. Recently though, JetPack Aviation launched its newest range of flying motorcycles. They are calling it Speeder and it was launched on YouTube. They are taking orders right now and have promised delivery by 2020.

Collaboration Between Bell And Uber

Bell Helicopters, a company that makes attack helicopters for the US Army, is working on building a flying car along with ride-sharing giant Uber. While Elon Musk is promising a trip to Mars, Uber is trying to make the commute from San Francisco to San Jose to 15 minutes from the 2-hour drive in traffic every morning. Though flying taxis are still not a reality, both the companies are hopeful that it will be so by 2023. In 2016, they came out with a report that said: “Just as skyscrapers allowed cities to use limited land more efficiently, urban air transportation will use three-dimensional airspace to alleviate transportation congestion on the ground.” While most people believe that Uber will deliver in time, some do believe that it might get postponed by a few years.

What Are The Downsides?

Since almost every new technology comes with a few downsides, it is best to examine them before it happens. While the world is busy anticipating who will win this race of making flying cars, there is this real problem to consider. First off, the cars would need to fly over cities, and it would be a big issue if they ever broke down in the middle of the commute. The risk in these cases is high. While the USA might not allow this kind of risks, China might. They have a higher tolerance for risk when developing technologies and experts believe that can give them an edge. Also, we should take a minute to consider what will happen to the less-privileged people. What if regular modes of transportation will become obsolete? What if we all rely on solo flight commutes to work? We’ll lose our social touch and become more reclusive. Well, let’s hope that won’t happen!

Only time will tell what the future holds for us. Technology has given us a lot but has taken away some simple pleasures of life, too. But how we make use of technology is in our hands. Flying taxis may just solve one of the biggest commute issues that major cities face every single day. Sure, there might be disadvantages but technology always comes with a risk. What do you think about flying cars?