Are we one step closer to living like the Jetsons?
A company called Skyryse is making headlines today for putting its cutting-edge systems into existing aircraft to try to prototype a system of automated sky cabs.
Company spokespersons suggest that the technology “works in triplicate with airline-grade, fail-operational technology to ensure that automation functions remain operational at all times, even in the presence of equipment failures,” according to a report by Andrew Hawkins in The Verge.
Hawkins reports the Skyryse flight system similar to cruise control for cars, and includes constant monitoring technology.
Anyone who is particularly flight adverse or skeptical might suggest that we get autonomous cars right first.
However, Skyryse is getting accolades for choosing to put its technology into existing helicopters rather than try to build autonomous ones from scratch.
A suite of sensors helps steer, stabilize, and direct the helicopter, while monitoring other flight data,” Hawkins writes. “The aircraft is constantly monitored to ensure it doesn’t exceed safety limits, especially in emergency situations.”
How feasible is this, really?
“These new, converging technologies could lead to the production of flying cars,” wrote Mary Grady at Robb Report in August. “They would combine the utility of an automobile with the convenience of an airplane. These flying cars would be compact, lightweight, quiet, efficient, safe, and easy-to-operate aerial transportation that doesn’t require runways or extensively trained pilots.”
Grady also provides a quote from none other than Henry Ford, circa 1940, illustrating how long humankind has had an eye on this kind of vehicle:
“Mark my word,” Ford is recorded as saying, “A combination air-plane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”
First, though, Skyryse or any innovator will have to deal with the regulatory environment, including these FAA regs.
Look for autonomous heli services to gain visibility in the American skies in the years to come.
