Day: August 14, 2017

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Delorean’s next car is a flying one

Paul DeLorean isn’t as famous as Larry Page, Airbus or Uber, but he’s competing with all three in the race to build a flying car. DeLorean does have a famous name, however, and is the nephew of the John DeLorean, maker of the eponymous sports car made famous by Back to the Future. In a profile at Wired, the youger DeLorean reveals his plans for the DeLorean DR-7, a two-seater VTOL craft for personal transport.

According to the report, the DR-7 has four wings and a pair of winglets, while you’ll find a fan jet up front and ’round back. The two fans will tilt, much like the Harrier and Osprey, from a horizontal orientation for take off and landing, through to vertical for flight. So far, DeLorean has built a dummy model that measures 30 feet long and 18.5 feet wide, although plans to have it fold down enough to fit in a large garage.

DeLorean intends to realize his dream of creating an autonomous, battery-powered craft with a range of 120 miles. That outrageous range is, he claims, because he plans to cruise at higher altitudes than other flying car projects. DeLorean expects to have a working prototype by the end of next year, and will conduct unmanned test-flights shortly afterward.

What DeLorean, or anyone else for that matter, has failed to explain is how exactly all of this is going to work in practice. For instance, what sort of air traffic control setup will be required to ensure mid-air collisions don’t become commonplace? If a car has engine failure on a highway, that’s a problem, but what happens if your VTOL craft conks out in a built-up area?

Not that those questions necessarily need to be answered just yet, after all, there’s still all the Doc Brown gags to do in the next decade.

Via: Wired

Source: DeLorean Airspacw

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Car ownership could decline thanks to Uber and Lyft

While it may seem logical that people will own fewer cars as ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber gain more traction, there hasn’t been a way to study any potential effect. Then Uber and Lyft left Austin, Texas for about a year. A group of researchers from University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and Columbia University found that the presence of ride-sharing companies can change car ownership behavior, which could eventually lead to fewer personal cars in the future.

41 percent of those surveyed used their own cars to get around, while nine percent bought a car to cover Lyft and Uber’s absence. Only three percent took public transit while 42 percent of respondents went with local ride sharing companies that filled the gap while Lyft and Uber were gone. Austin residents didn’t rush to sell of their personal automobiles when the companies returned to the city, of course, but the study shows that personal car ownership could actually decrease as ride-sharing and autonomous vehicle usage increases.

Rob LeFebvre wrote this article for Engadget.

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Waymo patents car that softens if it hits a pedestrian

Self-driving cars are supposed to be safer by nature, as they shouldn’t make nearly as many driving errors as humans. However, Waymo might not be willing to take any chances. The Alphabet-owned company recently received a patent for technology that would soften a car’s body in the event of a collision with a pedestrian. The feature would change the rigidity of body panels, bumpers and the hood using underlying cables, rods or springs. The moment sensors detect an imminent pedestrian impact, the car would loosen those underpinnings and create a relatively gentle surface that reduces injuries.

This is just a patent (that was filed in 2015, no less), so there’s no guarantee that Waymo will implement it — the company clearly hasn’t so far. As it stands, there are some unanswered questions about the effectiveness in real life. Would the shell be as durable in the event of a car-on-car crash as a conventional panel? Would the cables and other attachments add a significant amount of weight or cost to the car? And would this increase the risk of injury for people inside the car? Waymo would have to address all of these questions before it could use its technology on the road.

Even if it never reaches real products, the patent (along with an earlier patent for pedestrian ‘flypaper’) sheds light on Waymo’s thinking. It sees a driverless car’s AI as just one part of the solution to road safety, and is seriously considering vehicles that take radical steps to protect collision victims. There are certainly pragmatic reasons for Waymo to be extra-cautious. The public is understandably nervous about autonomous driving tech, to the point where people closely scrutinize every crash. If Waymo can minimize the injuries from self-driving cars, it’s not just saving lives — it’s increasing confidence in the cars’ superiority over their human-piloted counterparts.

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