Driving to never-never land!

Last time in this column, we discussed what the ultimate car utopia would be like. We questioned—though only jokingly—how the future of cars could’ve arrived without having flying cars in the sky. Remember those mobile pods first imagined by the Jetsons’ in 1987; recurring in later science fiction classics? Well, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi challenged this assertion just last week. In his remarks at a tech conference, that blew the internet, Dara claims we could see flying cars within the next 10 years. Guess if Uber says it, it must be true.

The company is working on a project called Elevate that is exploring the idea of taking transportation vertical. These transportation aircrafts would—according to Uber—lead to “quicker daily commutes, less traffic congestion, and cleaner air around the world”. The solution comes in the form of an aerial taxi service, aptly named uberAir.

For now, the company has a proof of concept and the idea is being hashed out with real estate and infrastructure companies to determine how people can be flown from land to air and back on designated routes. Apparently, uberAir could go online in Dubai and Los Angeles in the next five years, which will serve as testing grounds for opening this service worldwide.

From a regulations perspective, however, this would be a long-winded road. After all, there are still countries who have drone technology but no idea how to tackle it, or have a burgeoning on-demand economy but no idea how to regulate it. On the positive side, developed economies have allowed manufacturers to design and test their vehicles. But even then, a lot of research (and investment) will go into developing traffic control systems in the air space; and determining how they will communicate with existing road infrastructure while transitioning to and fro.

The global car ecosystem has changed drastically over the past decade—or at least, the next big idea has. At first, car innovators were focused on improving the design, look and speed of the car; how fancy it looks how fast it drives. But soon, we were talking about fuel and cost efficiency—doing away with combustion engines and dependence on scarce fuels that were hurting the environment and were expensive.

Then came the concept of autonomy—cars that did not require a driver, or a pair of human eyes. Along which came connectivity and smart communication. Cars that would interact with roads, traffic, weather, and other vehicles; cars that would communicate and transfer information; and so on.

So if one thinks about it, the flying car is not a far-fetched idea, or a figment of a crazy man’s imagination. In fact, aviation giants have been dabbling in designing aerial cars, pods, hoverbikes and the like.

In fact, one could say, it is not the flying aspect of the car that is fascinating. The fascination comes where we are able to create dynamic cities with infrastructure and communication networks that would evolve as mobility and technology evolves; and adapt to it. That, we should say, is the future of cars, whether it is in the air, flying—or on the ground, embracing gravity.