Beating the Rhetoric
Necessity is the mother of invention goes a famous saying. Mankind has chosen to better itself when pushed to the wall. The greatest invention and discoveries whether penicillin or electricity has come because of a human desire to solve a problem. In 21st century India transportation has emerged as a major challenge while imagining urban planning. If we take the example of Delhi , an average Delhiite spends nearly three hours daily on the road while travelling almost 40 kms. If one takes an Uber from Gurugram in Haryana to Connaught place in Delhi then the cost would be almost 600 rupees while taking one hour time during normal timings and up to two hours during peak hours. Travelling between the peak hours is almost a nightmare.
And this is not limited to Delhi alone. The garden city of Bengaluru has become famous in the past few years for its traffic jams. It has become the source of constant jokes and memes over the internet. Similar stories are repeated in other major cities of the country including Mumbai and Kolkata. Even Tier 2 cities like Guwahati are finding it hard to control traffic. Cities are often victims of their topography and unsustainable urban development at the same time. In sum urban transportation will soon transform from a problem to an unmanageable disaster, unless innovative solutions are brought into the drawing board. And one such idea is the idea of flying cars. Often limited to scientific movies and fiction the world will soon greet the real possibility of having flying cars soon.
The Dutch company PAL-V has designed a three wheel vehicle that looks like a scooter but flies like a gyroplane with the help of an aerodynamic design and rotor blades. In the PAL- V vehicle the rotors are powered by the wind and not the engine itself. It can fly upto a speed of 180kmph and is scheduled to make a debut in 2018. Priced at almost 4 crores each it does not seem like a vehicle that would be owned by everyone, anytime soon. Yet it does set a benchmark and a tone for the future, a sign of the things to come. Elsewhere in the US backed by Google cofounder Larry Page, the Kitty Hawk flyer, a personal aeroplane is being built. It will be taken outdoors very soon as the prototype design is in the final stages. Similar projects are taking place all over US and Europe. Closer home industry powerhouses like the Tatas are looking to invest in the next generation of transportation technology. Electronic powered vehicles and Flying cars seem to be the future of urban transportation.
Taxi aggregator Uber is also raising its stakes in the flying game. Recently on a trial basis it has started offering Helicopter rides over short distances. Uber is launching the UBER Elevate programme which would have a series of takeoff and landing electric VTOL points from which passengers would travel from one point to another. There would be multiple vertiports or landing points in a city which would have recharge facility as well. While last mile connectivity would be an issue in the case of Uber Elevate yet Uber plans to invest in its Elevate programme in a massive push in the coming years. Uber predicts that with Uber Elevate, a 1-hour, 40-minute commute from Gurugram to Delhi could be cut to just 6 minutes. The first partner cities for the project are Dallas-Fort Worth, US, and Dubai, where Uber expects to demonstrate the network by 2020. To develop electric VTOL vehicles for Elevate Uber is also partnering with aircraft manufacturers like Aurora Flight Sciences, Pipistrel Aircraft, Embraer, Mooney International and Bell Helicopter among others.
Yet flying cars will bring their own set of challenges in the coming years. The first question would be the issue of regulation itself. Whether these vehicles would be regarded as aircrafts or cars would be the first question. Regulations would differ accordingly. The second question is that of safety. Such flying cars would need to concentrate on primary and secondary systems. If the primary systems fail then the secondary systems would have to kick in. The longer these flying cars stay airborne, the more power they will need. More power can only be generated by bigger batteries. But most batteries that power electric vehicles are heavy. A flying car that weighs a lot won’t be able to clock too much flight time. Minimizing the size of batteries is a key parameter because they will be one of the biggest components in flying cars. Yet there is no doubt that the future is flying cars and the changing face of urban transportation.
( Views expressed are personal)