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Pentagon Clears Flying-Car Project For Takeoff

Posted by Soulskill on from the check-with-doc-brown dept.

unassimilatible writes "DARPA has announced a 'Personal Air Vehicle Technology' project. It will 'ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car — a two- or four-passenger vehicle that can "drive on roads" one minute and take off like a helicopter the next. The hybrid machine would be perfect for "urban scouting," casualty evacuation and commando-delivery missions, the agency believes.' Wired has the summary of the project." Maybe they'll take inspiration from Terrafugia's "drivable airplane."

3 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Will 80 mph do? by jmichaelg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a real flying car. At 80mph, it doesn't have the airspeed that DARPA is looking for but it does hit all the other check items and supposedly it's easy to fly.

    1. Re:Will 80 mph do? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Informative

      The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground.

      Apparently not:

      "The fan's static when you're driving around," says Cardozo. "The engineering challenge was getting a really reliable system that will switch power between wheels or fan."

      That is by far the coolest flying car I've ever seen. It takes off at only 35 MPH, would be relatively cheap, and looks like it would have great off-road mobility in car mode. Only problem is I couldn't find it on youtube, so I hope it's in the new Bond movie :)

  2. Re:Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's amazing what weirdo's with a bunch of money can do http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules
    This one will probably turn out to be as useful but at least someone is trying!!! Too bad it's with my money this time.