Last week our speaker was automotive expert and author, Tim Jackson, and the title of his talk (and best-selling book) was Dude, Where’s My Flying Car?
It seems the promise of the Jetson’s (animated sitcom 1962-63) is only now being realized. Tim describes himself as a cyclist and “mobility connoisseur”.
Bicycles (invented in the 1860s) were the precursors to motorcycles, cars and early planes (think bike shop owners the Wright brothers). In fact, bicycles were the first mobility forms to be massed produced; and the US company, Schwinn was one of the big 3 manufactures worldwide at the time. But the first bikes had neither brakes nor pedals! Motors were soon added to bicycles creating early motorcycles.
Before Henry Ford there were 2 important pioneers in the auto industry - Karl Benz in Germany was adding wheels to his bicycles which ultimately became cars. In Lansing MI (1898) Ransom Eli Olds built cars on an assembly line (8 years before Henry Ford) producing the curved-dash Oldsmobile. He also created franchise dealers throughout the USA. Following the 2nd New York Auto Show (1901) he received an order from one of his dealers for 750 Oldsmobiles which he rounded up (more newsworthy) to an even 1000!
On September 25, 1908, 3 cars were rolled out to form GMC – Oldsmobile (Ransom’s company), Cadillac and Buick (all built in MI). Later Ransom Eli left GM to start a company making pickup trucks which he called the REO (his initials) Speedwagon. And, yes, the band was named after that truck company. Ransom’s company (REO) later merged with a company named Diamond and, yes, the country band Diamond Rio is named after that truck company. Now, not to forget Henry Ford – he is credited with developing the assembly line where the cars moved to the workers. In the first 20 years of the last century there were over 2000 car makers in the USA! Today there are fewer than 30 companies making 90% of the production cars in the world.
So, why flying cars?
In the last 10 years there have been 423,689 traffic fatalities compared to zero commercial airline fatalities. In the last 10 years the miles travelled by car have tripled while the fatalities have decreased by 20% (good but not the commercial airline record). Second, traffic congestion continues to worsen in spite of seemingly endless road expansion. The third concern is emissions – the automotive sector has decreased brown cloud emissions 99% in the last 50 years and reduced carbon admissions by 28%. The aviation sector has not seen any significant decreases in pollution.
But eVTOLs will be all electric (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing).
One of the first VTOLs was built by a Denver company in the 1930s! Now, drone technology is driving the industry as it is developed for package delivery (by companies like Amazon) and computerized light shows (to name a few applications).
From skeptic to believer.
The New Yorker reports that Flying Cars are Finally Here! Tim has visited with the CEO of a subsidiary of Boeing (Wisk Aero) which plans to have flying cars by 2030. He showed a map he created of the many VTOL sites around the US.
Movie posters and book covers have predicted flying cars for decades. But today money is coming from all the major aircraft manufacturers, major airlines and automakers to eVOTL start-ups! So, the question is no longer if, but when. Vertiports are being built for takeoff and landing of eVTOLS.
During the last few minutes, we enjoyed multiple pictures featuring eVTOL configurations from startups to automobile companies aimed at commercial (taxis) and private markets. Perhaps reminiscent of the 1920s when everyone seemed to be building an automobile. Fasten your seatbelt!