Why are major corporations such as Boeing not involved in the Skycar?

tabloid

For many years Dr. Moller appeared to fear that partnering with a major corporation would result in his losing control, and that the Skycar would not become the good product/service that it had the potential to be.

During the 90's Dr. Moller took a different attitude and somewhat actively looked for potential Skycar partnerships. There were several interested corporations, all of which were all outside of the US, but no agreements were reached I know little of these details.

I do, however, know the details of the attempts to work with Boeing, being the spearhead of the effort.

By the late 1990抯 there are over 1,000 Boeing employees who are aware of the Moller Skycar and believe that it is a promising opportunity. However, these people do not make the Boeing product decisions.

Twice during the 90's I brought the concept of the Skycar to upper Boeing management.

1) In 1991 I bypassed the chain of command with the results of my own research in "Preliminary Design Group". The goal of 100 people in the group was to determine which markets Boeing should be involved in 5 to 15 years in the future. No only did upper management turn down the concept, but I was kicked out of the group within 1 month. By the way: while in the group I proposed a total of 5 projects, none of which were accepted by Boeing. None of the proposed products were then commercially being developed. I ham happy to say that four of my five proposals are now commercial products, but unfortunately, not in Boeing. The Skycar will be the last of my five 1991 proposals to become commercially developed.

2) In 1995 I tried again. I had other Boeing groups assess the potential of the Skycar. Both Engineering and Marketing groups in Boeing Commercial looked at the Skycar and both found the design and the market to be good. I again approached upper management. Again not thru channels. (I had tried going thru channels, but it did not go more than 2 of the 7 levels needed) The VP who I presented it to this time felt that Boeing should have no interest in aircraft carrying fewer that 100 passengers.

That VP had been in charge of the development of 2 large aircraft programs in Boeing and had seen the poor results of Boeing becoming in small aircraft in Canada during the previous 10 years. Not only did he reject Boeing becoming interested in the Skycar, but also I believe that he was the reason that I was forced out of Boeing 6 weeks later.

Management is rewarded when they avoid any kind of risk, but management evolves in companies such as Boeing. That VP has since retired and I rejoined Boeing 4 months later. Boeing is now far hungrier for new concepts and projects than it had been in 1991 or 1995. I will be trying one last time (during the next 12 months) to get upper Boeing management interested in what a NASA chief scientist refers to as a $1 trillion a year market

cronxeh

because anyone can build a skycar, much better than moller's


but there are no laws for allowing flying cars or any customers on a signup list. if there were these two things - you'd see hundreds of designs popup in popular science.

TsunamiJoe

are there any laws preventing it?

Chaotic42

Wouldn't you need a pilot's license? You'd be at the mercy of the FAA.

bd1976

Some points:
1)Yes you need a flying licence. (incidentally this mean you can't keep you flying "car" at home you would have to take off from an airfield - that makes it a plane not a car in my opinion)
2)The thing doesn't work yet.
3)Imagine if these things became mass produced. The world is not ready for millions of people flying around at 300 miles an hour.. look how much trouble people can cause behind the wheel of cars!

cronxeh

there is another possibility for such concept.

first you need to make hydrogen as your main fuel source - it has to work flawless and have zero emissions.

second you need to divide the sky into grids and install the navigation system integrated with GPS that wont allow you to wander off course anywhere for any reason - a fail-proof concept.

those kinds of flying cars need to be heavily regulated by the government and state laws. this is a serious matter and needs to be taken seriously - but at the same time we need this technology, and we need to start moving in 3rd dimension, and preferrably computer-controlled, sort of like an auto pilot.

and finally the pricetag on every flying car should not exceed 20 thousand dollars for base model whatever they are

all these engineering challenges are pretty complex individually but if you have those components, making this a reality will be a matter of months.

TsunamiJoe

only bad part with making it completely computerised is theyll need to put it online to update roads and such and imagine chaos of a huge car virus...

cozzmikjoker

Good grief, no wonder Boeing had been falling so far behind Lockheed. It sounds like they had too many old fogeys working there.
:)
It doesn't take a visionary to realize that a skycar will be so much different than small airplanes (thus the name skycar). It's not as bulky, it takes off vertically (no need for long runways), it's not as noisy and clumsy as a helicopter (that is, if control of vertical takeoff has been perfected) and it's small.
What that means and what Moller, I think, has envisioned is it starting off the same way, I'm sure, that helicopter charter companies began: there would be a helipad (the skycar equivalent) in a few areas and they would probably be owned by a small company or a pilot. The rides might not be terribly cheap at first but it would probably be used by executives who do a lot of travelling from city to city within a state or limited region (I think planes are still slightly faster if someone is travelling over many states)
The passenger would avoid traffic jams to the airport this way. And of course it would first require a skyway system, rules and computerization (to run and control the skycar).

I would think the biggest threat the skycar poses, at first, is to helicopter service businesses but it could eventually pose a threat to the automobile industry. Eventually, the skypads could be on every corner and in every neighborhood and that could potentially place a dent in the profits of car manufacturers.
Like Moller says, something is going to have to be done about traffic. You can only build so many roads and there are more and more cars (drivers) on the roads every year.
If you live in or near a big city, you know how frustrating it is to be stuck in a traffic jam- and how much gas it wastes and how bad the stopping and going and idling is for your car.
Overcrowding causes the population to build outward and that solves part of the problem because new businesses and schools are then built where those communities pop up.
That works great for some people but for others whose jobs are not close to them or for salespeople and delivery people who must call on many businesses, they must commute in the god-awful traffic.

The only two alternatives to crowded roads are to build highways underground or in the sky. Abd digging costs money.
So unless bosses and customers can continue to be tolerant of increasing commute times, the skycar thing will be inevitable.
Maybe Ford and Toyota ought to consider investing now in what will otherwise be their eventual competition.

Unless something else is unforseeably invented, I imagine most homes will eventually have a skycar in the garage alongside their ground-car.
What would really be nice is a car that converts. Sort of a James Bond-ish gadget. can you imagine driving in your groundskycar when you come across some slippery ice, flip a couple of switches and fly over the ice?

I want an emergency manual override- even if it means I must get a pilot's license.
Not trusting to my life to any machine or human that's not in the vehicle with me.
Autopilot's nice but if something goes wrong, well, is there an eject seat with parachute?

Gil Fuller

Skycars will always be the transportation of the future because they will always be far more expensive and dangerous than cars. Technology (such as computer controls) will in the future make travel by car far faster and safer than today.

StringFan

I don't know but boeing has been working with Finnish physicist Eugene Podkletnov? They announced last year they were interested in his gravity shielding experiment, whether those results were able to be recreated I can't confirm. Apparently they think it is viable technology and are pursuing it.

Brad Barron

Building such a vehicle is not needed. Look at the current troubles our economy is going through with oil. Do you actually think such a vehicle will be made with such troubles still errupting? I don't even think skycars are even logically needed. Why do you need a car that can hover or fly, when we already have cars that take us from point A to point B?

The creation and mass production of a "skycar" will just cause more accidents, deaths, and angered people.

-Brad Barron

avemt1

CALM DOWN

Are jewels logically needed? Is processed food such as hot dogs, and other junk food needed. NO, but we still have them. I believe it will start out as a small luxury priced ride, then after we take the proper precautions it will become widely used.
Profit is the name... Big Buisness is the game.

nseidm1

The popularization of the Skycar throughout society is inevitable. The market will inevitably be that of or greater than what car markets are currently. The cost of the skycar will be equivalent to current automobile prices, which will further allow for rapid growth much as the car companies have show in the past century. Moller will inevitably be involved in a market worth billions if not trillions of dollars, and they are in a position to dominate the initial marketing, putting them in an unprecedented stragetic position possibly dominating the entire market. Significant profits will be made in 10-20 years, making longterm invenstments of any amount of money extremely profitable.

avemt1

very true, but you are missing someting. TECHNOLOGY
if we do not have the resources to be able to run these money mongers the buisness will not move verty fast. As was stated before: it will have to be connected to a world wide service that controlled the skyroads. Also, what happens in to senario of an engine failure?
Gravity takes effect here. I do not think we have the technology to account for the dangers involved. Unless boeing and othert major companies get into the race.
Another thing, I do not think that most of the world is ready for this kind of responsibility.

RawThinkTank

the answer is simple They think about sky cars what IBM thought about PC 30 years back. Inshort some one is going to be the microsoft or apple of skycars

Jier

They are trying to set it up so you will only need a driver's license to fly small aircraft - I don't know if anyone mentioned this or not, honestly I should of checked, so I appologise if it was already mentioned.