Do you remember the Jetson's? Future Prediction

Do you remember the Jetson’s? Their flying cars were very well designed and although we don’t know what they ran on for fuel it seems there was a predefined air highway for the traffic to be controlled. There were floating stop lights and even places to land at restaurants and events. I believe there will be flying cars in the next 15-25 years for two reasons.

(picture from http://www.onepicturesworth.com/)

1. Work has already started on the flying cars and continues to improve on ideas and innovations as there is a real need to change the way we commute.

2. The cost of road maintenance is getting extremely expensive as we rely on oil products for taxes to maintain them.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the article page at treehugger.com
UPDATE II: And here's a link to a 60 minutes print story on "flying cars" that also mentions the Cartercopter and “Highway in the Sky”.

Risk is a factor when you get anyone behind the wheel of a car. Even today’s cars are at risk of having a flat tire and swerving into traffic or just plain not paying attention to what is around you. We can run out of gas or even not get the oil changed which will eventually lead to a breakdown. This could be fatal in a flying car with the drop to the ground.

Will there be additional pollution? Work has already begun on alternative clean fuel sources for these “cars”. Efficiency is another factor that is already being worked on at Boeing.


Will there be mid-air crashes? With the use of “smart software” like “Highway in the sky” the craft would be made so there is space around it and the software can detect obstacles and maneuver around them.

www.Auto.howstuffworks.com

http://www.metro.co.uk/

http://www.autoblog.com/

How do you keep your children safe? The size of the flying cars are very small, no minivan here. I believe there will be modifications to the cars once the technological details are perfected. Then designs will change to accommodate the largest families.

http://www.blog.speculist.com/

How much will it cost? Right now the costs are high but as the technology is perfected, the prices will align more with regular cars today. One of the prototypes is $50,000 and a Cadillac Escalade today sells for $75,000. I believe the financial savings will outweigh the costs. There are a lot fewer crashes of airplanes with the tight control of the airspace.

Halal, W. E. (2008). Technology’s Promises. Palgrave MacMillan

Sherden, W. A. (1998). The fortunes Sellers

Simon, B. (2005) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/15/60minutes/main688454_page3.shtml © MMV, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved