What Would it Take to Drive a Flying Car?

 

Introduction

Transportation may be one of the most important innovations in our lives. Being able to go from one place to the other, whether within city limits or across the earth, has enabled an aspect of lifestyle that was absent in the early ages. The aspect of long-distance transportation was enabled through sea-based methods, such as boats, for the main purpose of trade and commerce. But even before that, animals like horses and donkeys were the sole mean of short-distance (relatively) transportation. It wasn’t until hundreds of years later that buses and trains were invented, followed by airplanes and Ford’s first cars in the early 1900s. Around 40-80 years later, rockets and space shuttles were developed and launched. If we were to look at the timeline of these innovations, it is inevitable that the rate of innovation has dramatically increased over the centuries. This is due to bandwidth increase, more manpower, and even more education across countries.  

Scope

            The scope of this innovation includes three important features, and one outlying limitation. The first feature is a strategically planned prediction of the use of automobiles and other modes of transportation within the next 20 years. The second feature is the relativeness of clean modes of transportation. The third feature is the reliability of autonomous driving. Given the fact that within the United States, several states are against autonomous driving, it is expected that gaining world-wide agreement on autonomous driving rules will be a challenge. In addition, if flying cars are factored into the equation, one major limitation will be that of technological advancements. While technology is rapidly changing, there will always be a question of reliability and security.

Purpose

Since Covid, and as the global economy has continued to be in jeopardy, we have seen major challenges with transportation, specifically within the aviation industry. In fact, the statistics show that “the pandemic erased two decades of growth in only a couple of months” due to reduced passenger demands and decreased flight operations (Salas, 2022). Flight cancellations and delays are the new norms. However, given that air transportation is a major contributor to increased tourism and economic growth, it most certainly cannot be interrupted. In addition, road-side incidents, and vehicle malfunctioning, are proven to be top concerns around the world. Identifying more advanced solutions for such use cases will bring ease to many countries. So where are we going next, and how will we get there? This will be discussed throughout this paper. 

Supporting Forces

Now that industries and countries are aware of the importance of advanced and reliable means of transportation, I predict that more focus will be on how to advance or invent new means of transportation that is more efficient and requires less dependency on human operations. Contributing to trade and economic growth, I expect delivery systems will be much more advanced. We are seeing examples of that through Amazon’s robotic delivery system, but even more advanced may be long-distance robotic transportation through drones and auto-pilot UPS crafts. For tourism purposes, super-sonic speeds and greener ways of flying will most likely be the next hit.

            As previously highlighted, interruptions in transportation systems led to grieving consequences for the world’s economy. Trade, commerce, and tourism were a few of the many industries that were severely impacted. One of the leading causes of such impact is the fact that most transportation systems are first-hand operated by humans. In the scenario that human contact is removed from the equation, these transportation systems become useless. Hence, uninterrupted industrial operations become one of the major driving forces for robotic or autonomous transportation systems.

            Aside from industrial operations, road safety is another motivational force for autonomous transportation systems. It was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), that “1.3 million people die yearly in road accidents”, with speeding, driving under influence, distracted driving, and poorly developed vehicles being the top causes of such accidents (Parekh et al., 2022). Thus, autonomous vehicles’ ability to drive in safe and well-navigated paths may help reduce this massive number of road incidents. Certainly, there are other factors that must be tackled, like the security of the vehicle’s systems, to ensure a well-manufactured autonomous vehicle. However, in this case, it is anticipated that the fast-changing technology will only continue to enable to development of autonomous and self-driving vehicles. 

Challenging Forces

As with any invention, there will be challenging forces that hinder the rapid development and adoption of new technology. Undoubtedly, implementing improved and renovated transportation systems will introduce additional means and opportunities of trade and day-to-day consumer dependencies. However, such innovation will require new electric, hydrogen, and autonomous technologies that are not currently supported due to technological and bandwidth limitations, and legal challenges. In addition, passing regulations to support such advances may reduce the likelihood of such innovations taking place. Air traffic controls and processes must be renovated, or even reformed, to support autonomous transportation methods. Costs will undoubtedly increase as well, which may hinder the success of such technology, along with cloud and satellite bandwidth. However, we have continuously been introduced to new technologies that we would have never thought of, so only time will show us where we will go next.

Methods

An important role of company leaders is to make group-based decisions. Engaging the opinions and perspectives of others, as part of the decision-making process, is most beneficial. However, as group sizes increase, opinions will vary, which may in result complicate the decision-making process. Hence, there are several techniques that, if followed, can provide a much-needed structure that will help make effective and meaningful decisions. 

When choosing a group decision-making technique, the group must identify the technique that best fits their culture and the situation to be resolved. Following an inclusive technique will also ensure that all opinions are heard and will in return increase engagement and overall productivity within an organization (Dagher, 2021). 

One of the most known techniques is the Delphi technique. In the case that a group of experts can provide a more valid consensus on a complex idea than an individual expert can, the Delphi technique helps the group identify and organize top opinions. Broken down into 6 steps, the Delphi technique combines the opinions and ideas of a larger group, then extracts potential lists and tasks from each idea. These lists are then placed on the table for the larger group to discuss and condense until a majority decision is made. Following these steps enables subject matter experts to collect as many ideas as the group can provide and identify the most important factors in each opinion. Although there are several arguments against the effectiveness of the Delphi technique, mostly around its “validity, the dominance of possible thought collectives and the reproduction of possible power structures”, this technique has proven to be useful when implemented in an appropriate environment (Niederberger & Spranger, 2020).

Implementing the Delphi method in this case of innovations in the transportation industry may be extremely beneficial. Given that numerous stakeholders and subject matter experts may be involved in this decision-making process, the discussion and ideas presented may cover a variety of controversial topics. Such topics will bring forward some sort of consensus in solving the current transportation problems, as well as inventing new means of transportation while covering all challenges in the field.

Models

            Figure 1

            Flying car mid air

Figure 2

            Flying car about to take-off from designated runways

Analytical Plan

            As with any new innovation or technical implementation, analyzing the effectiveness and feasibility of flying autonomous cars is very important. But what’s more important is analyzing the safety of this innovation, from implementing secure systems to ensuring driver safety.  

            Undoubtedly, there will be technical challenges, some of which are not solvable in the current age. Further, as we have seen with many new technologies, security is a huge underlying risk in this area. What happens if a flying car gets hacked? What if a car gets broken into and manipulated without the owners’ knowledge? What kind of confidential information, if any, may be stolen from a flying car’s system? All of these questions, and many more, must be addressed and answered even before developing such controversial technology.

            In addition, rigorous research will need to be conducted to understand the consumers’ demands, needs, and willingness to adopt such new technology. Estimated completion time of research and development, a widely diverse target audience, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and governmental processes are just some of the aspects that must be analyzed prior to developing a flying car prototype.

            Once a prototype has been developed, its feasibility, security, and effectiveness must be evaluated. Participants may start to test the vehicles in designated areas and with proper training. In addition, rigorous testing must be conducted on the vehicle’s system, some of which may mimic potential massive attacks, car accidents, and moral decision-making.

Anticipated Results and Areas of Future Research

            When completely new technologies are introduced to our society, there is expected hesitancy, criticism, and pushback from the impacted society. Sharing an updated version of an iPhone or even an autonomous car is not nearly as controversial as introducing flying cars would be. Consumerism, however, demands continuous change, and if any of the previous technological trends have proven anything, it’s that we live in a highly adaptable society.

            It is anticipated that the concept of flying cars may widen the gap between different communities, between the wealthy and the middle to low-class individuals. It is also expected that major push-back from the government may stall the development and launch of flying cars. In addition, new driver training and exams will be required, maybe even a completely different license to operate a flying car. New traffic laws, “road” safety rules, and limitations will be put in place. Communication hubs will also be required to maintain traffic control. Almost every industry will be impacted by this change. However, this change will improve the way current day-to-day tasks are accomplished. For example, package deliveries will reach an all-time-low delivery speed, and surgical patients may be quickly and easily transferred between hospitals.

Conclusion

            Despite what we have seen with airplanes and extremely rapid trains, flying cards will undoubtedly eradicate the concept of distance. Going on a road-trip across the United States will no longer require multiple over-night stays at hotels. Drivers will be able to hop in their car, and travel across the country in less time than ever expected. Even better, drivers will do very little, only to power on, take off, and land the car. That is because flying cars will expand the current autonomous driving methodology to travel faster and longer distances. In addition, the concept of flying cars will greatly eliminate the struggles faced with traffic jams and road incidents. Having more than one mean of travel is only an artifact of maintaining better living conditions.

 

References

Dagher, K. (2021, June 21). 10 of the Most Effective Group Decision Making Techniques. Fellow. Retrieved September 1, 2022, from https://fellow.app/blog/productivity/group-decision-making-techniques/#delphi

Niederberger, M., & Spranger, J. (2020). Delphi Technique in Health Sciences: A Map. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00457

Parekh, D., Poddar, N., Rajpurkar, A., Chahal, M., Kumar, N., Joshi, G. P., & Cho, W. (2022, July 11). A Review on Autonomous Vehicles: Progress, Methods and Challenges. Electronics, 11(14), 2162. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11142162

Salas, E. B. (2022, April 19). Air transportation - statistics & facts. Statista. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/topics/1707/air-transportation/