According to forecasts by authoritative organizations, 60% of the population will live in cities by 2030, while the current figure is only 50%. This also means that in the next ten years, the urban population will increase by hundreds of millions, which will greatly increase the pressure on the city. The concept of energy saving and environmental protection is one of the main issues that car manufacturers have to consider at present. However, even with the popularization of electric vehicles, the problem of traffic pressure still exists. In response, Airbus has come up with their envisioned solution.
The airline established in France has recently invested a lot of energy in the development of flying cars that can take off vertically, hoping to relieve the traffic pressure in future cities. The core of this plan is a car platform with independent property rights. Airbus named it Vahana. This car is developed based on the Audi A3 and built by Airbus’ high-tech R&D team in Silicon Valley.
Rodin Lyasoff, head of the Vahana project, said: “This requires a lot of technology, such as batteries, motors and various aviation technologies. These are just the foundation. In addition, some functions of automatic identification, positioning and automatic collision avoidance are needed to make this car truly Becoming a flying car that can operate autonomously is our biggest challenge right now.”
Another problem Airbus faces is policy issues. At present, no country allows unmanned aerial vehicles to fly over cities. Obviously, Airbus needs to use products to convince governments of various countries. At present, Airbus has begun to cooperate with the Singapore Aviation Authority to use small autonomous aircraft to provide transportation services on the campus of the National University of Singapore.
Airbus’ ultimate goal is to produce a car that can take off vertically and have autonomy to fly unmanned, like the vehicle in this rendering. Not only do they plan to provide private use, they also hope to be able to be used by companies such as Uber.
