Kitty Hawk provided a short behind-the-scenes video to Business Insider, which shows early test flights and pilot training for the flying car.
Read: Summer Olympics 2020 News: Toyota-Backed Flying Car Could Light Torch In Tokyo For Opening Ceremony
The fully electric car looks like a jet ski with a web around it, but the company says the final version will differ from the prototype. The video shows pilots testing the Flyer with the machine was connected to a cord so it wouldn’t go too high or too fast during the learning period.
You can watch the video here:
The co-lead engineers of the Kitty Hawk Flyer, Cameron Robertson and Todd Reichert, told Business Insider they chose pilots from different backgrounds to test the machine, including sports pioneers, paraglider enthusiasts and helicopter pilots. The pilots first practiced with a flight simulator with replica controls, then went on to use a scale remote-controlled model of the Flyer. The controls were similar to video game controllers.
“The flight controls use thumbsticks just like an Xbox,” Robertson and Reichert said. “The right thumb lets you tilt the Flyer in any direction, and the left controls the altitude and heading. We aimed for an experience that was as universal and familiar as possible."
The engineers made it clear that Kitty Hawk is trying to make using a flying car as easy it can.
Reichert and Robertson said:
“Our focus is to reduce the workload for the user, so the immediate benefit of flying can be realized. On a bike, you have only one control input you need to handle all the time — steering. With Flyer, technically you can have no input at any given time and you’ll float comfortably in the air. The aircraft actively manages altitude and level. Only when you want to change something (i.e. move forward, or get a little higher) do you need to give input. Our goal is for flight to be only what you want to be doing, and for your intentions to be easy to express. The rest of the complexity and stress should fall away.”
They Kitty Hawk Flyer is expected to launch at the end of 2017, its site says. The price will be revealed when the machine is released later this year. The good news is that you won’t need a special pilot license to fly the machine. However, you won't be able to use the Flyer on land or cities — only over fresh water.
Other companies are looking into flying cars. Uber announced in April it plans to develop and test cars that can vertically take off and land by 2020. Airbus and Italdesign unveiled the new modular transport system concept Pop.Up in March. The concept includes a car that connects to a drone, propelled by eight counter-rotating rotors, that lifts it into the air to avoid traffic on the ground.
Lilium, a Munich startup, already has tested its all-electric flying car, Lilium Jet. The company is currently working on a five-seat model of the Jet for on-demand air taxi and ride-hailing services. Meanwhile, Japanese carmaker Toyota recently backed a flying car project, Skydrive, hoping to light the 2020 Olympic torch with the airborne vehicle.
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