Flying Car News, December 23
Build Your Own Flying Car
This week’s top Flying Car News: A new “homebuilt” flying car, autonomous drones that help farmers, flying insect-scale robots, and more!
Flying cars will be a significant part of the future of transportation. Recent advancements in drone technology, electric VTOL aircraft, and autonomous systems have paved the way for an aerial transportation revolution. We created the Udacity Flying Car News Series, to ensure you stay up-to-date on all the latest Flying Car and Autonomous Aircraft stories!
Your Own “Homebuilt” Flying Car
Samson motors is creating a flying car with three wheels that will be classified as a “homebuilt vehicle” because 51% of the vehicle must be built by the owner.
“The Switchblade can fly up to an altitude of 13,000 feet and at a top speed of 200 mph. It is also fitted with a safety parachute. Samson Motors has claimed that the car will be ready for launch in the spring 2018 with a starting price of $120,000.”
Autonomous Farming
American Robotics recently unveiled their fully autonomous drone system for farming. The self-charging, self-managing drone system requires no manual intervention to run its operations.
“I believe fully-automated drone operation is a revolutionary approach that solves many of the real-world problems facing growers today, and I am confident Scout will scale to meet the needs of growers around the world.” —Gary V. McMurray, Associate Director, Collaborative Robotics, Georgia Tech Research Institute
Flying Cars vs. Self Driving Cars
Nicholas Roy, professor at MIT, founder of Google X Project wing, and an instructor for the Udacity Flying Car Nanodegree Program discusses the differences between the Flying Car Nanodegree Program and the Self Driving Car Nanodegree Program in an insightful new blog post.
“Both of these programs will empower aspiring engineers to succeed today, even as they’re shaping tomorrow. The safe and effective future of smart transportation will emerge through the pioneering work of our students, and we couldn’t be more excited to watch these remarkable developments unfold.”
Flying Insect-Bots
Flying insect bots the size of a penny require the use of “neuromorphic chips” (which are modeled after how neurons fire in the brain) in order to pack the computation required on such a small form factor.
“A group of Cornell engineers has been experimenting with a new type of programming that mimics the way an insect’s brain works, which could soon have people wondering if that fly on the wall is actually a fly.”
Self-Flying Helicopter
Aurora Flight Sciences successfully tested an autonomous self-flying helicopter performing unmanned cargo delivery in Virginia.
“The company envisions this technology as an “agnostic” tool that can be applied across multiple helicopter types, with potential applications in areas outside of the military in oil and gas, air medical, firefighting, agriculture and more.”
If you are interested in joining the pioneering generation of engineers who will build the smart transportation systems of the future, discover Udacity’s Flying Car Nanodegree Program today!
And stay tuned for more Flying Car News!
