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Uber Is Researching a New Vertical-Takeoff Ride Offering That Flies You Around (recode.net)
If Uber's recently launched self-driving cars surprised you, wait for the company's "flying" vehicles. Speaking with Recode, Uber's head of products said the company is research small planes that can vertically take off and land, so that they can be used for short-haul flights in cities. From the report:The technology is called VTOL -- which stands for vertical takeoff and landing. Simply put, VTOL is an aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically, which would also describe a helicopter. But, unlike the typical helicopter, these planes have multiple rotors, could have fixed wings and perhaps eventually would use batteries and be more silent. In time, like cars, such aircraft would be autonomous. Jeff Holden said that he has been researching the area, "so we can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around." He added that "doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at."
...And no mention of Moller?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar
Paul Moller is a first-class, well-credentialed, Fruitcake, with blarney so impressive, that even he believes in it. Very early on, a Physicist that I knew was so enthusiastically taken in, he put $30K into the venture, and he soberly ended up leading one of the later lawsuits.
The funny thing is, Moller is right; the Physics behind what he is still doing is valid. But his Engineering is off, way off. Paul Moller is an eternal optimist, just waiting for just the next right Engineering Breakthrough to make his Skycar feasible. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting... decade, after decade, after decade...
Paul Muller is the Energizer Bunny of VTOL Skycar anticipation, and I quite like the guy... from a distance. (I first met him while doing some research at the old UC Davis Crocker Cyclotron...)
Captcha: avarice
(I think that this one just might be a little unfair...)