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Airbus Reveals a Modular, Self-Piloting Flying Car Concept (techcrunch.com)
At this year's Geneva Motor Show, Airbus has revealed a concept design created in partnership with Italdesign. "The demonstration vehicle offers modular functionality, meaning it can operate both on the ground and in the air, and Airbus thinks it's one potential answer to the growing problem of urban traffic congestion," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The concept vehicle is intended to work with others to form a network that can be summoned on demand, with passengers hailing a ride from an app on their mobile device. The capsule-based design can connect to either ground or air conveyance modules, letting customers specify their preferred method of transit. It's also designed to be used in concert with other existing transportation methods for maximum efficiency. Airbus and Italdesign call their creation the "Pop.Up System," which includes the artificial intelligence platform that uses what it knows about any individual user, and available routes and transit options to determine the best travel options. The main vehicle itself is a passenger capsule, which holds the rider and which can be paired with either ground and air modules, as well as, Airbus suggests, with hyperloop systems down the line once that tech becomes more widely available. There's a third part of Pop.Up that ensures this whole project touches all bases when it comes to current tech hype -- an interface that will respond and interact with the user in a "fully virtual environment" while in transit. They've thought of everything.
Concept. Nothing, in other words.
Move along, everybody...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Aside from the obvious differences, car and aircraft design pull in completely opposite directions regarding weight. For a car crash protection is a high priority - that adds weight. Not something you want in an aircraft. Ditto airbags with explosive charges. A way this has been skirted is to license the vehicle on the ground as a quadricyle which doesn't need to meet many (any?) of the safety requirements of a car. But frankly I wouldn't want to drive one.
I really don't see the point of these vehicles - they're going to be compromised both on the ground and in the air and if you're rich enough to buy one you can probably afford a rolls or bentley than you can park beside your Bell or Sikorsky at the airport.
Weight. Pure and simple.
Ejection systems are *heavy* and adding two ejection seats to such a concept as this would dramatically increase the lift needed, and in turn the thrust needed to generate that lift.
A commercial jet with ejection seats or an ejection capsule for the passengers simply wouldn't be economically viable - think along the lines of an economy ticket costing the same price as a first class ticket currently costs.