Could Self-Flying Cars Become The Next Ride-Sharing Success Story?

The possibility of autonomous cars making their way to the road in the near future is one of the most talked about developments in the auto industry in recent times. And a recent change that is making a significant mark in the world of cars is the growth of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. Now, here’s a story that combines the two. Imagine being able to summon a plane on your smartphone, which will have no pilot and will be completely controlled by automatic algorithms? Although this sounds like science fiction, a plan to make this concept a reality has been announced by Juraj Vaculik, CEO of AeroMobil.

The innovative company unveiled its prototype flying car last year, which Vaculik describes as a “Ferrari with wings,” with an aggressive launch date of 2017. Taking this concept further during a keynote at South by Southwest Interactive, Vaculik announced AeroMobil’s plan for the next generation of these vehicles to be self-flying cars.

“[Self-driving] technology is coming to the car, but as an autopilot, it’s already there,” Vaculik told Mashable. “There are already systems for taking off and landing automatically. These two technologies can work together.”

As amazing as this concept is, it’s certainly a long way from becoming a reality. AeroMobil hasn’t yet received regulatory approval for its “normal” flying car, and self-driving cars still have many regulatory hurdles to overcome. Many would say that discussing pilotless flying cars is therefore extremely premature, but that’s not stopping Vaculik and his co-founder Stefan Klein, who are already working on the design.

He explains that the fully autonomous vehicle will use a hybrid engine that will have a 900 mile range, or approximately three hours of flying. The car will have four seats, and will feature an advanced parachute-deployment system in case the autopilot fails.

“What’s better than a car, though, is that you can press what we’re calling a panic button, and the parachute will be deployed, and it’ll safety land via a parachute,” explained Vaculik.

Other flying-car companies, such as Terrafugia, have business models that include the necessity to go to an airport. But not AeroMobil. Vaculik explains that its cars, whether they are pilotless or not, will be able to take off and land on long strips of grass, and he envisions runways and landing strips that exist right beside highways. He imagines a scenario where flying cars will be able to land, retract their wings, and join highway traffic seamlessly.

Never one to simplify his innovations, Vaculik imagines taking this concept and creating driverless “air taxis,” to compete with ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. He wants to create a system where you can summon an AeroMobil flying car from your smartphone to pick you up and fly you wherever you want to go, and then summon another one to take you back home later. AeroMobil wants to create a ride-sharing autonomous flying-car empire.

“The sharing economy is excellent for us,” Vaculik said. “People will have this opportunity to call a ‘flying Uber’, which will not just deliver you to the airport, but to your final destination.”

Many auto industry experts do agree driverless cars will eventually make it onto our roads, although there are many hurdles yet to overcome, including regulatory issues and consumer reluctance. If driverless cars do indeed become a reality on our roads, can you imagine the additional difficulties that would be involved to get past the regulatory issues and create consumer acceptance of self-flying cars?

Although we’re guessing that Uber and Lyft aren’t exactly concerned about competition from AeroMobil at this point, Vaculik’s presentation did get an enthusiastic response at SXSW. Clearly, his visionary concepts provide an exciting look into the massive changes that could occur in transportation over the next decade.