It's car, it's a plane and it's both. There have been several concepts that show the possibilities of building a flying drone car. What's different this time is that the idea seems achievable in a very near future. Airbus introduced the Pop.Up, its ambitious car-drone project, which they feel is a solution for getting stuck in traffic during a rush hour.
Airbus partnered up with Italdesign, which is a design and manufacturing firm that showed the concept at the Geneva Motor Show.
So how does it all work? In the heart of this design is a capsule that is able to fit passengers within its 2.5 meters (8 feet) long and 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) high body. Now, if you want to take a drive, all you have to do is, attach this capsule to a chassis which is going to be electrically powered and then you will have a two-seater electric car ready to take you wherever you want to.
Now comes the fun part, while driving the car if you feel that this is not how you would like to travel, stop at a parking garage and take out your smartphone to summon an eight rotor autonomous drone via a mobile app and it is going to lift you and fly you away to your destination. Sounds neat, right? If this concept becomes a reality, it means that you will not even have to move an inch and things will just fall into place.
There is going to be an artificial intelligence system in place to give you a smooth transition and enriched travelling experience. Moreover, it will be an augmented reality component where it takes inputs from time to time. Airbus says if this concept is made into a reality, it can even be integrated into several different other futuristic modes of transport for example: Hyperloop.
According to Airbus, "Pop.Up is the first modular, fully electric, zero emission concept vehicle system designed to relieve traffic congestion in crowded megacities."
