To some extent, it is more reasonable to give cars the ability to fly than to make large planes smaller...

In less than a week, from the "water and hydrogen car" on May 23 to the "air-powered car" on May 29, from Henan to Hubei, from Pang Qingnian to Zhou Denghua; This May is a simple magic.

Of course, if water and hydrogen vehicles "add water" and air-powered vehicles "brag", we can be more practical. We are still happy to see the breakthrough of domestic fuel technology, but "cowhide blowing too much" is easy to be punctured by the microscope of the media. Naturally, the next step is "verbal criticism" from all directions. Because of the experience of "water to oil" and "Pakistan iron project", we don't want to go through.

However, it is not necessarily possible to say that "water and hydrogen vehicles" and "air-powered vehicles" are in a fantasy.

Don't you see the 2030 plan of Hyundai NEXO on C ES Asia in June, and Toyota took the lead in releasing Mirai water element (hydrogen fuel cell power) car in Japan as early as 2014. Don't you see that India's first consortium Tata announced its own air energy car Tata AirPod in 2017.

The reason why we are more "tolerant" to the latter is not that Hyundai Toyota's "hydrogen fuel" and Tata's "air compression pump" are more mature. Just because the propaganda method of adding a little water and air can run is too "anti-intelligence", although it had to be "patched" in the later period, it has lost the trust of consumers and cast a shadow on the industry.

But we believe that in the new energy market without Pang Qingnian and Zhou Denghua, this "road to the future" will be more practical and healthy.

At a time when energy is temporarily unable to achieve a huge breakthrough, just as the future aircraft will face two choices: mass and privatization, the future automobile is also facing four choices: airplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles, three-dimensional integration and modularization of functional units.

(1)
Airplane
○

lilium

Since the German Karl Benz successfully developed the world's first car in October 1885, and applied for a car invention patent to the German Patent Office on January 29, 1886, it has laid the tone for the design of future cars in one fell swoop; 134 years later, the car In addition to the shape, grade, type, and artificial intelligence of the stars and the moon, the original framework has hardly changed much.

However, with more and more vehicles driving on the road and more and more congested urban roads, cars are no longer the most convenient way to travel; the sky more than three meters high on the road is beginning to make many people stir.

The easiest way to give a car the ability to fly is naturally to put wings on it; like an airplane that has been shrunk hundreds of times to acquire mobility through the engine and lift through the wings.

But if this kind of flying car wants to fly, it has certain requirements on the length, strength, wheels and engine of the wings, and there are special restrictions on the site for take-off and landing; the speed is fast, but the flexibility is low.

②
UAV
○

Skai

Hexa


The picture above shows the Skai, a flying taxi powered by hydrogen fuel cells, launched by Alaka' I.

Below is a Hexa passenger drone designed by Maform Design.

This kind of flying car is similar to the combination of helicopter and UAV. Helicopters "copy" the structure of UAV or an enlarged version of UAV.

Relatively speaking, it has no special requirements for the flight site and space, and even its passenger compartment can be customized for different sites; but its problem is that the speed of parallel movement is limited, and the energy consumption will be even larger (the weight of the body requires The propeller keeps working stably).

(3)
Three-digit integration
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Elevate eCRM

Uber's new Elevate eCRM air taxi is a combination of helicopters and airplanes, designed for vertical takeoff and jet flights.

Elevate the unique design of eCRM air taxi: eCRM can smoothly transition between vertical take-off/landing and forward flight by rotating the propeller module upward or forward.

This kind of shape seems to have a lot of superfluous, but considering the electric drive, it is impossible to obtain enough power in a short time, so only the sacrificial structure is left to ensure the initiative of eCRM.

④
Modularization of functional units
○

Uber aviation concept

TESLA'S INTERCHANGEABLE TRAVEL
Finally, whether it is the concept version of Uber Airlines or Tesla's interchangeable travel cabin; they all choose the separation of the passenger cabin and the power system, and the separated system module can choose different functions, different needs, and different The supporting modules of different experiences.

Uber's air-to-road mode and Tesla's car-saloon car-bus mode can "calmly" provide the most suitable choice for different driving experiences.

And this modular idea, separating the power module from the passenger compartment, allows the power system to operate at a higher frequency, or directly share it with others.

Relatively speaking, the unmanned aerial vehicle flying taxi, which can still take off and land VTOL (vertical take-off and landing), has greater prospects. It does not require high usage scenarios and driving skills, and is versatile.

The greater possibility is that this kind of drone is "modular", which can adapt to different use scenarios, and it seems that it is not impossible to be proficient in sea, land and air.

Considering that Uber will launch a "flying taxi" service in 2023 and Paris may provide Olympic guests with the option of flying taxis in 2024, it can be concluded that the "change" of cars in the future will be more "violent" than that of future planes ".

Moreover, because the "cockpit" of automobiles is a much more mature and popular ecology than the "passenger compartment" of airplanes, the airplanes of automobiles will be more "three points" than the airplanes in the future ".

To some extent, the future aircraft will even be "swallowed" by the future car and become part of its function; and at some stage in the future, the car may become the foundation and standard module of more large tools.

PS: Some picture materials come from @ yankodesign @ designboom