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Terrafugia unveils...the Flying Car

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Lord Naarghul

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Terrafugia unveils next-generation flying car | Fox News

Fox News said:
It’s a flying car!

At least more than the last one was.

Terrafugia, creators of the Transition street-legal airplane, have unveiled their vision for the next generation of personal aircraft, the TF-X.

The TF-X is closer to being a direct replacement for the automobile than the Transition, which features retractable wings that allow it to be driven on public roads and is primarily intended for use as a conventional aircraft that takes off and lands from an airport runway.

It’s also a hybrid, in more ways than one.

Although it flies like a fixed-wing aircraft, the four-seat TF-X was designed to take off and land vertically with the help of collapsible, electrically-powered rotors mounted on the ends of its fold-up wings. They draw their energy from a battery pack of yet-to-be-determined size and chemistry that can either be charged via an electrical outlet, or by the gas turbine engine that powers a rear-mounted propeller when the TF-X is in flight.

On the ground, the TF-X is propelled by electric motors in the wheels that are also run off of the battery pack, or in series hybrid mode where the turbine generates electricity after the battery charge is depleted.

A pilot’s license will still be required to fly the TF-X, but Terrafugia says a five-hour training session is all it will take to learn how to operate the vehicle. However, the idea is that you won’t have to do much of the flying at all.

Thanks to the FAA’s NextGen program, which will require all aircraft to be equipped with satellite transponders sending their exact location to a centralized air traffic management system starting in 2020, the TF-X could be able to fly entirely by itself from takeoff to landing. The pilot will still be ultimately responsible for the operation of the vehicle, and can fly it manually, but shouldn’t need to do more than enter a destination into a navigation system, sit back and enjoy the ride.

A 500-mile range is planned along with a top speed of 200 mph, and a built-in parachute will bring it safely to the ground in the event of any major mechanical failures along the way.

But don’t plan to impress the neighbors by lifting off from your driveway just yet. Terrafugia says the powerful prop wash of the TF-X will require a clear 100-foot diameter zone for takeoffs and landings, which will likely need to be regulated like helicopter pads are today. Terrafugia envisions more of these being established by cities and towns with the advent of vehicles like the TF-X.

They’ll have plenty of time to sort it out. Terrafugia figures it’ll be 8 to 10 years before the TF-X makes it from the drawing board to the skies, and even the Transition is still a couple of years away from entering production. The company is aiming to start delivering the $279,000 vehicles in early 2015.
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All I can think of is this:

The Jetsons Tv Intro. - YouTube
 
Jabberwocky said:
Traffic accidents would be pretty gruesome, though. Well, moreso than they already are.
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I just hope they arnt getting parts from toyota that had the gas pedal recall. nothing like aircraft with the gas pedal stuck...
 
Maybe they can make one like in Harry Potter. Or like Draco's black Mercedes-Benz that has 666 on it (haha, My Immortal reference).
 
I've seen designs for flying cars as early as 12 years ago, so this doesn't excite me that much, especially since it's still about 10 years off from being a reality.

Jabberwocky said:
Sounds cool. Traffic accidents would be pretty gruesome, though. Well, moreso than they already are.
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Maybe, but they'd also be rarer. Having that extra airspace would mean less congestion and less chance of collisions. Of course, there'd still be plenty of idiots that get into accidents by texting while flying, but that's going to happen with any vehicle.
 
It still requires runways and a pilot's license... That's not a flying car.
 
Jabberwocky said:
TheMissingno. said:
It still requires runways and a pilot's license... That's not a flying car.
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The article specifically states that it's not a "true" flying car, just closer to being one than the company's last model.

(though, y'know, cars require licenses too...)
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That it does, however the title and the comments above mine imply otherwise.
 
TheMissingno. said:
Bolt the Cat said:
TheMissingno. said:
It still requires runways and a pilot's license... That's not a flying car.
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Flying cars probably will require a pilot's license.
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Then they aren't really "flying cars" as we commonly think of them. More like airplanes that happen to be street legal.
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Actually, I'd assume any car with the ability to fly would require a drivers' and pilot's license. Driving and flying are two whole different animals.
 
Jabberwocky said:
TheMissingno. said:
Bolt the Cat said:
TheMissingno. said:
It still requires runways and a pilot's license... That's not a flying car.
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Flying cars probably will require a pilot's license.
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Then they aren't really "flying cars" as we commonly think of them. More like airplanes that happen to be street legal.
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Actually, I'd assume any car with the ability to fly would require a drivers' and pilot's license. Driving and flying are two whole different animals.
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Again, it's not really a "flying car" then as we think about it, it's an airplane that is street legal. The problem with a pilot's license is that they are expensive and time consuming to get and relatively few people have them, whereas a driver's license is easy to get and nearly everyone has one. We think of a flying car as something that the average person can get and will change the driving infrastructure in a Back to the Future 2/Blade Runner/Fifth Element sort of way. If you need runways and pilot's licenses, then it won't really work that way.
 
TheMissingno. said:
Again, it's not really a "flying car" then as we think about it, it's an airplane that is street legal. The problem with a pilot's license is that they are expensive and time consuming to get and relatively few people have them, whereas a driver's license is easy to get and nearly everyone has one. We think of a flying car as something that the average person can get and will change the driving infrastructure in a Back to the Future 2/Blade Runner/Fifth Element sort of way. If you need runways and pilot's licenses, then it won't really work that way.
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I'm not sure what you consider to be a "common" flying car would be possible, then. Flying is a very complicated skill, I don't think it can be dumbed down to something like what we see with cars nowadays. I wouldn't be surprised if prospective drivers/flyers would be expected to master more complicated piloting controls than what we currently see with land based cars.
 
Weren't there some a few years ago, and then people thought it was too expensive, or too inefficient? Or am I just making this up? Any confirmation would be greatly appreciated, but as others have said, this doesn't excite me too much.
 
I think that vehicles like this would probably require their own classification - currently, ultralight aircraft (in the US at least, and I assume in other areas) are minimally regulated, so long as you stay under a certain altitude, and the craft has a specific stall speed and max airspeed, you can do pretty much whatever you want. No flight plans, nothing - they're classified as vehicles and not aircraft so you don't even need a special license.
 
I don't think the whole piloting licence thing is as much of an issue as some might think.

This kind of thing won't be commonplace until at least 15-20 years, and that's not going to happen until they lose their wings and take-off the way a helicopter does as opposed to an airplane, which is more than reasonably possible within that time.

Already today we have cars that can drive themselves to some extent, even the subject of that article is said to be self-flying for the most part, and I'm sure that's going to be one of the very first of its kind in the market far from what would later be used by the general public.

Honestly vehicle licences/training will matter less and less as vehicles are increasingly able to drive/fly themselves, which is likely for the better since we all know how responsible human drivers are.
 
Fairy said:
This kind of thing won't be commonplace until at least 15-20 years, and that's not going to happen until they lose their wings and take-off the way a helicopter does as opposed to an airplane, which is more than reasonably possible within that time.
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Or else have VTOL capability.
 
Please note: The thread is from 13 years ago.
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